Who can ‘have it all’?: job quality and parenthood in the UK

This project will examine the relationship between job quality and parenthood in the UK.

The ‘motherhood penalty’ and ‘fatherhood bonus’ in income are well-researched, but little is known about how parenthood relates to the non-financial aspects of work for men and women. Key elements of job quality include pay and benefits; job security; autonomy; promotion prospects; work-life balance; task discretion; pace of work; training and learning; managerial support and worker voice. Evidence shows that poor quality jobs are as bad for individuals as unemployment, and high-quality jobs boost productivity and lower absenteeism. Existing research has found that women are over-presented in the worst quality jobs and have less autonomy at work on average, yet the extent to which this is connected to motherhood is less well understood. Moreover, we know little about how fathers’ job quality is affected by parenthood and how parents may trade off different elements of job quality between them.

With a unique focus on job quality, this project will improve our understanding of the work-family interface in the UK, by:

• Using data from the nationally representative Skills & Employment Survey (SES) to explore time trends in multi-dimensional job quality for mothers, fathers and non-parents of each gender.
• Using longitudinal, nationally representative data on working conditions from Understanding Society (UKHLS) to examine how job quality changes over the life course. The analysis will assess how job quality penalties, bonuses and trade-offs are distributed between different groups of mothers and fathers and explore whether job quality influences the decision to become a parent, or whether having children is associated with changes in job quality.
• Working in partnership with the work-life balance charity, Working Families, to conduct focus groups with diverse groups of working parents. These will explore their views on what makes a ‘good job’, particularly in the context of COVID-19 and associated disruption to working life and changing preferences around work.

This research will provide the first UK evidence on the relationship between job quality, motherhood and fatherhood using both large-scale, longitudinal and nationally representative data and qualitative investigations. The findings will inform policy debates around widening access to good work, supporting working parents, and equitable job design.