Charting Work Arrangements and Family Configuration over Our Working Lives

Abstract

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979, we used sequence analysis to chart couples' work schedules and family configuration clusters between ages 22 and 53 ( n = 5263) to examine the association between family demands from marriage and childrearing and work arrangements between partners via a life course perspective by focusing on nonstandard work schedules, a vital indicator of precarious employment. We also explored whether such an association differs by race–ethnicity. Our sequence analyses uncovered six joint work schedule arrangements and six family configurations between ages 22 and 53, demonstrating the heterogeneity of family and work trajectories over working lives. We found married couples with two children later in life had relatively stable work patterns, whereas married couples with three or more children had the most diversified work patterns between ages 22 and 53. Furthermore, non-Hispanic Blacks were more likely to have relatively vulnerable work patterns than their non-Hispanic White counterparts.