Gender Inequalities in Married Couples' Earnings Trajectories: A Comparison of the United States and Germany

Nicole Kapelle , Humboldt Universität zu Berlin & Nuffield College
Lili Vargha, Humboldt University of Berlin & Hungarian Demographic Research Institute
Maria Hornung, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
Anette E. Fasang, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Female partners commonly earn less than their male partners, with substantial consequences for women's subjective and economic wellbeing. The present study aims to identify, compare, and describe diverse patterns of gender inequalities in couples' earnings trajectories over the first six years of their partnership in Germany and the United States. As such, we focus on identifying overlapping as well as unique groups within the two contexts and understanding the factors associated with group memberships. Using group-based multi-trajectory modelling, we simultaneously consider both partners' earnings trajectories as well as trajectories of women's share of couples' earnings to identify latent patterns of inequalities in couples' earnings trajectories at different levels of household earnings. Preliminary results for Germany highlight six distinct couple types that are differently associated with socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Next, we will include PSID data for the US and use multinomial logistic regressions to formally describe the patterns.

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 Presented in Session 88. Money and Inequalities in Families