ABSTRACT
In recent decades, both the nature of work and the ways in which social researchers have studied it have changed considerably. Global labour markets, new technologies and free-trade agreements have transformed paid work and rendered income less secure for an increasing percentage of families. This chapter compares recent labour market trends in the three countries and discusses several reasons for cross-national variations in wages, working conditions and the prevalence of working poverty among families with children. It also discusses the gendered patterns of work, noting the particular connection between the unpaid domestic work performed by women and their patterns of paid work. Women’s participation rates in the labour force, in contrast to men’s rates, have increased for several reasons. First, the service sector of the national economies expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, creating more clerical and service positions in education, retail sales, the hospitality industries, health care and the expanding government bureaucracies.
