Work-Life Balance Reconsidered: Time Allocation within Partnerships;Germany, UK and Austria

The discussion about reconciliation of work and family, respectively the so called work-life balance has grown considerably over the last two decades. Arguments and positions differ in many respects. Even the scope of "work-life-balance" is not uniquely defined. This paper follows an analytical economic approach and shows the intra-personal and intra-partnership trade-offs between five core categories of productive and consumptive activities. This tradeoffis shown for the population of three European countries, which exhibit considerable differences in time allocation. Although the countries¿ mean levels differ, the gendered behaviour patterns of partners shown wide commonness.