Female Labour Market Responses to Partner Employment Shocks: The Added Worker Effect in Italy

Female Labour Market Responses to Partner Employment Shocks: The Added Worker Effect in Italy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Female Labour Market Responses to Partner Employment Shocks: The Added Worker Effect in Italy Donata Favaro, Anna Giraldo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8956421/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This article examines female labour market participation and labour supply responses to partner employment difficulties in Italy, focusing on the Added Worker Effect (AWE), defined as the compensatory increase in women’s labour market participation and/or labour supply following adverse household income shocks. Using longitudinal data from the Italian Labour Force Survey (2004–2019), spanning the Great Recession, the study applies a dynamic difference-in-differences framework to estimate women’s adjustments to partners’ employment transitions. The analysis extends the focus beyond partner unemployment to broader employment instability, including reduced working hours and job insecurity. Responses are analysed along the extensive margin (transitions from inactivity to employment or job search) and the intensive margin (changes in desired working hours or part-time to full-time), distinguishing between desired and actual labour supply to capture labour market and household constraints. Results reveal a statistically significant and counter-cyclical AWE in Italy. Female labour market participation increases following partner shocks but declines once partners return to stable employment, indicating a predominantly temporary effect. While women increase participation, actual working hours do not rise, though desired hours do. The magnitude of responses varies by household characteristics, region, and prior female labour market attachment. Overall, findings highlight the importance of household risk-sharing mechanisms and labour market rigidities in shaping women’s labour supply adjustments in a context of low female labour force participation. JEL codes :C22, D13, J22. Added worker effect female labour market participation labour supply responses partner employment shocks household risk-sharing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 12 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 11 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 03 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 24 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8956421","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":605072227,"identity":"a78150a0-be98-412b-a9a4-b8c1765c5b58","order_by":0,"name":"Donata Favaro","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA70lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCAxCKH0JVMDCwMTAYMCQQ0gLEkg1g3hmYFnx6ULQwtoHFDBjwWcN3vPfg5w81DBL8M5Kfffg473Aen3TzBoaHP3BrkTxzLlniwDEGCYkbacYzZ247XMwmc6wAr8MMbuQYSBxgY6hjOHPAmJl32+HENokc/H4BajH+ceAfg4T8meOfmXnnEKfFTOJgG4OEwfEeoC0NRGiRPHPGzOJsn4SE4fGeYsYZx9IT24B+OZCQhlsLH9DwGxXfbCTkDrNvZvhQY504f3bzxoc/bHBrgQIJVPYBghpwax8Fo2AUjIJRAAQAaFxVcXn5SUwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Padua","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Donata","middleName":"","lastName":"Favaro","suffix":""},{"id":605072228,"identity":"56e0875c-eae8-43da-ad4a-59a43fd7e96b","order_by":1,"name":"Anna Giraldo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Padua","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anna","middleName":"","lastName":"Giraldo","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-24 10:53:41","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8956421/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8956421/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104553298,"identity":"890f4ded-02e6-4dcf-a790-5ec669ade749","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-13 08:41:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":677404,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscriptcorrected.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8956421/v1_covered_79811310-2523-42c3-aaff-45b21ed2f1d1.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Female Labour Market Responses to Partner Employment Shocks: The Added Worker Effect in Italy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"review-of-economics-of-the-household","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"reho","sideBox":"Learn more about [Review of Economics of the Household](http://link.springer.com/journal/11150)","snPcode":"11150","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11150/3","title":"Review of Economics of the Household","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Added worker effect, female labour market participation, labour supply responses, partner employment shocks, household risk-sharing","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8956421/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8956421/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis article examines female labour market participation and labour supply responses to partner employment difficulties in Italy, focusing on the Added Worker Effect (AWE), defined as the compensatory increase in women’s labour market participation and/or labour supply following adverse household income shocks. Using longitudinal data from the Italian Labour Force Survey (2004–2019), spanning the Great Recession, the study applies a dynamic difference-in-differences framework to estimate women’s adjustments to partners’ employment transitions. The analysis extends the focus beyond partner unemployment to broader employment instability, including reduced working hours and job insecurity. Responses are analysed along the extensive margin (transitions from inactivity to employment or job search) and the intensive margin (changes in desired working hours or part-time to full-time), distinguishing between desired and actual labour supply to capture labour market and household constraints. Results reveal a statistically significant and counter-cyclical AWE in Italy. Female labour market participation increases following partner shocks but declines once partners return to stable employment, indicating a predominantly temporary effect. 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