Employment Wishes and Employment Practices of Women in Eastern and Western Germany

The occupational situation or employment wishes of women in different
education situations. Topics: The following questions were addressed to
all: school degree; type and time of vocational training certificate;
subject of job title on the degree certificate; year of first
employment; designation of first regular employment; current
employment. Those never employed were asked: desire for employment and
current search for work; length of search for work; preference for
full-time or part-time employment; type of activities in search for
work; number of positions offered by the employment office and number
of applications not mediated by the employment office; intensity of
search for work; regional mobility and interest in further education to
increase the chances of job; work orientation and most important
reasons for employment (scale); importance of areas of life (scale).
The employed were asked: exact information about occupational activity
in primary occupation; current occupational position; area of business
affiliation of current company with which employed; superior function
and span of control; decision-making authority in hiring, paying and
promotion of employees; temporary or unlimited terms of employment;
social security through employment; time worked each week per
employment contract; actual time worked each week; full-time or
part-time position, measured on union working hours; frequency and
extent of overtime; desire for more overtime; overtime pay or leisure
time compensation; frequency of Saturday work; reasons for Saturday
work; desire for frequent Saturday work; interest in work on Saturdays;
frequency and reasons for Sunday work; desire for increased work on
Sundays; frequency of shift work and night work; information on
variability of working hours; number of work days per week; desire for
more flexibility of working hours; preferred measures for flexibility
of working hours; employment as necessity to earn money; length of
entire employment; frequency of interruption of employment; detailed
information on begin and end as well as reason for interruption of
employment; future occupational plans; assessment of necessity of
concessions regarding mobility, attractivity of work and further
education in the search for a new job; most important reasons for
employment (scale); importance of areas of life (scale); gender
distribution at work; judgement on equal rights for men and women at
work (scale). The following questions were posed with persons who had
interrupted employment due to leave for new parent: taking advantage of
the legal leave for new parent by respondent or partner; desire for
division of the leave for new parent with partner; occasional temporary
work during the leave for new parent; possibility of part-time
employment, temporary work or vacation substitute in one´s company
during the leave for new parent; further education offers by the
company immediately after the leave for new parent; attending courses
during the leave for new parent; financial support from employment
office in further education; type of costs accepted by employment
office; initiator of further education; general judgement on courses
after interruption for raising children; preference for such courses
during or after the leave for new parent; resumption of original
employment after conclusion of the leave for new parent; reasons for
not resuming work; change of terms of employment after the leave for
new parent; number of hours each week before the leave for new parent
and after the leave for new parent; number of hours each week according
to desires of respondent; comparison of job before and after the leave
for new parent regarding general improvement or deterioration,
regarding income, the route to work, the equivalance, the occupational
position and the work stress; extent of future utilization of leave for
new parent. The following questions were posed to full-time employees:
desire for part-time employment or ending employment; preferred number
of hours each week; preferred time of day and preferred weekdays for
work; most important expected advantages and disadvantages from
conversion from full-time to part-time (scale).

The following questions were posed to part-time employees: actual
situation of working hours in the course of the day and in the course
of the week; desire for change of status as part-time worker; desired
number of hours each week; expected effects on situation in one´s
family of a conversion from part-time work to full-time work. The
following questions were posed to the unemployed: time of start of
unemployment; participation in qualification measures of employment
office; receipt of earnings-related unemployment benefit, unemployment
benefit or interim retirement payment; receipt of support; search for
work and desire for employment; length of current search for work;
preference for full-time or part-time employment; type of one´s own
activities to search for a new job; number of positions offered by the
employment office; frequency of application for positions not offered
by the employment office; necessity of finding work quickly; most
important difficulties with re-entry into occupational life (scale).
The following questions were posed to women on leave for new parent
working less than 19 hours: length of intended leave for new parent;
intent to terminate employment after conclusion of the leave for new
parent; interest in a different job; desire for reduction of working
hours after conclusion of the leave for new parent; promise or
rejection of reduction in working hours by the company; existence of a
company kindergarten; receipt of child allowance, maternity grant,
child benefit or care benefit from nursing care insurance; length of
utilization of federal or state child-raising support; interest of
partner in leave for new parent; regular part-time employment of
partner during his leave for new parent; dividing the leave for new
parent with partner; possibility of acceptance of part-time employment
in the company during the leave for new parent; planned temporary work
during the leave for new parent in previous or another company;
interest in side job during the leave for new parent; existence of care
possibility for the child; course offering during the leave for new
parent; personal participation in such further education measures;
financial support by employment office for participation in such
courses; initiator of participation in such courses; further education
offerings within the company or outside work; interest in occupational
courses especially for women after the leave for new parent; preference
for such courses during or after the leave for new parent. Demography:
month and year of birth; assessment of personal financial security in
old age and expectations of the standard of living that can be realized
in the future; information on type of private provision made for old
age; expected housing situation in old age (nursing home versus
personal residence); provision for retirement through taking out
private nursing care insurance or agreements with children or
registration in a residence for older people; marital status; living
together with a partner; employment of partner through life; expected
end of employment of partner; full-time work or part-time work of
spouse; occupational position of partner; dream about part-time or
full-time of respondent as well as of partner; children under 16 years
old in household and their month of birth as well as year of birth;
manner of daily child care; dreams about an optimum child care; monthly
expenditures for child care and allowance from employment office;
maximum accepted monthly costs for child care; significance of a child
care allowance for resumption of employment or qualification measure;
care for those in need of nursing care and number of hours expended
weekly for this; monthly net household income and personal net income.
Interviewer rating: presence of others during interview and their
degree of relationship to respondent; intervention of others in
interview; willingness of respondent to cooperate and reliability of
respondent; length of interview; date of interview; identification of
interviewer; sex of interviewer; age of interviewer.