The purpose of this research is to analyze the participation of women in the labor market, with special attention paid to the role of part time work as am alternative to full time employment. Using 13 years of longitudinal data, the research will first involve statistical analysis of the transitions between part- timework, full-time work, and spells of non-labor force participation. The patterns of life cycle labor force involvement that occur over time will be analyzed. Second, the project will analyze spells of part-time and full-time work as well as spells when a woman is not in the labor force, utilizing state-of-the-art duration analysis techniques. Of particular interest are the causal reasons behind the beginning and the ending of part-time labor market spells, and the relationship between labor market transitions in and out of part-time work and other demographic and economic changes within a woman's household. The results of this research will increase our understanding of life-cycle labor market decision-making, the role of part-time work in the labor market, and the labor supply decisions of adult women. It should also provide insight into the extent to which policy-makers can rely on encouraging low- skilled women to enter part-time jobs as a route toward full-time employment.
