a column by Sascha O. Becker, Ana Fernandes and Doris Weichselbaumer for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The arrival of a child affects women and men differently in terms of labour market outcomes, but it is difficult to separate out the causal impact of discrimination from other factors.
This column uses empirical evidence from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to show that women are most affected in part-time job applications if they signal a ‘risk’ of having young children soon.
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment
I would normally leave it to you to decide if you want to read the whole article but I do arge anyone with an interest in gendered employment issues to do so.
Yes, it does state the obvious (to me) but it also provides a wealth of statistical evidence.
Showing posts with label fertility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fertility. Show all posts
Monday, 10 June 2019
Friday, 1 February 2019
Economic uncertainty and fertility cycles: The case of the post-WWII baby boom
a column by Bastien Chabé-Ferret and Paula Gobbi for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Between the early 1940s and the late 1960s, the secular decline in fertility that started at the turn of the 19th century in most developed countries was interrupted by a massive baby-boom.
This column argues that although much attention has focused on this boom, fertility rates preceding it were abnormally low. The evidence suggests that economic uncertainty can explain a substantial part of the major swings in fertility over the 20th century.
Continue reading
Between the early 1940s and the late 1960s, the secular decline in fertility that started at the turn of the 19th century in most developed countries was interrupted by a massive baby-boom.
This column argues that although much attention has focused on this boom, fertility rates preceding it were abnormally low. The evidence suggests that economic uncertainty can explain a substantial part of the major swings in fertility over the 20th century.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 16 October 2018
The effect of immigration shocks on native fertility outcomes: evidence from a natural experiment
an article by Kelvin K. C. Seah (National University of Singapore; IZA Bonn, Germany) published in IZA Journal of Development and Migration Volume 8 Article 18 (2018)
Abstract
ᅟ
This paper investigates whether immigration shocks have a causal effect on native fertility patterns. It uses a natural experiment, exploiting the large, unexpected and localised immigration of Cuban nationals to the Miami area in the USA in 1980 to examine the fertility consequences for non-Cuban Miami women.
Using a synthetic control estimator and an extended individual difference-in-differences analysis, the results from this study indicate that the immigration shock had an overall negative, though short-lived, impact on the fertility of Miami women. In addition, fertility effects are found to vary by homeownership: While the immigration shock had a considerable negative impact on the fertility of women living in rented homes, it had no effect on those living in owned homes.
This differential impact was likely due to the rise in local housing rents accompanying immigration, making childbearing less affordable for those living in rented homes.
JEL Classification: J61, J13
Full text (PDF 34pp)
Abstract
ᅟ
This paper investigates whether immigration shocks have a causal effect on native fertility patterns. It uses a natural experiment, exploiting the large, unexpected and localised immigration of Cuban nationals to the Miami area in the USA in 1980 to examine the fertility consequences for non-Cuban Miami women.
Using a synthetic control estimator and an extended individual difference-in-differences analysis, the results from this study indicate that the immigration shock had an overall negative, though short-lived, impact on the fertility of Miami women. In addition, fertility effects are found to vary by homeownership: While the immigration shock had a considerable negative impact on the fertility of women living in rented homes, it had no effect on those living in owned homes.
This differential impact was likely due to the rise in local housing rents accompanying immigration, making childbearing less affordable for those living in rented homes.
JEL Classification: J61, J13
Full text (PDF 34pp)
Saturday, 28 April 2018
Residential segregation and the fertility of immigrants and their descendants
an article by Ben Wilson (Stockholm University, Sweden; London School of Economics, UK) and Jouni Kuha (London School of Economics, UK) published in Population, Space and Place Volume 24 Issue 3 (April 2018)
Abstract
Measures of community population composition, such as residential segregation, are important theoretical mechanisms that have the potential to explain differences in fertility between immigrants, their descendants, and destination natives.
However, only a handful of studies explore these mechanisms, and most are limited by the fact that they carry out cross‐sectional analysis. This study proposes a new approach, which focuses on community composition in childhood.
It uses longitudinal census data and registered births in England and Wales to investigate the relationship between completed fertility and multiple measures of community composition, including residential segregation. The results show that the fertility of immigrants is closer to native fertility if they grow up in less segregated areas. This provides evidence in support of the childhood socialisation hypothesis.
Furthermore, residential segregation explains some of the variation in completed fertility for second‐generation women from Pakistan and Bangladesh, the only second‐generation group to have significantly higher completed fertility than natives. This suggests one reason why the fertility of some South Asians in England and Wales may remain “culturally entrenched.”
All of these findings are consistent for different measures of community composition. They are also easier to interpret than the results of previous research because exposure is measured before childbearing has commenced, therefore avoiding many issues relating to selection, simultaneity, and conditioning on the future.
Full text (PDF 15pp)
Abstract
Measures of community population composition, such as residential segregation, are important theoretical mechanisms that have the potential to explain differences in fertility between immigrants, their descendants, and destination natives.
However, only a handful of studies explore these mechanisms, and most are limited by the fact that they carry out cross‐sectional analysis. This study proposes a new approach, which focuses on community composition in childhood.
It uses longitudinal census data and registered births in England and Wales to investigate the relationship between completed fertility and multiple measures of community composition, including residential segregation. The results show that the fertility of immigrants is closer to native fertility if they grow up in less segregated areas. This provides evidence in support of the childhood socialisation hypothesis.
Furthermore, residential segregation explains some of the variation in completed fertility for second‐generation women from Pakistan and Bangladesh, the only second‐generation group to have significantly higher completed fertility than natives. This suggests one reason why the fertility of some South Asians in England and Wales may remain “culturally entrenched.”
All of these findings are consistent for different measures of community composition. They are also easier to interpret than the results of previous research because exposure is measured before childbearing has commenced, therefore avoiding many issues relating to selection, simultaneity, and conditioning on the future.
Full text (PDF 15pp)
Friday, 2 March 2018
The gender pay gap in the UK: children and experience in work
IFS Working Paper (18/02)
by Monica Costa Dias, Robert Joyce and Francesca Parodi
Despite some convergence, the gender pay gap remains large.
In this study, we use BHPS-USoc data to document the evolution of the gender pay gap in the UK over the past 25 years and its association with fertility. We also investigate the potential role of various differences in career patterns between men and women and how they change with the arrival of the first child.
We show that differences in accumulated years of experience and in working hours play an important role. We develop an empirical wage model to estimate the causal effect of working experience in the wages of women. Estimates from this model are then used to simulate counterfactual scenarios where women always work full-time if at all and where women work as much as men do.
We find that differences in working experience can explain up to two thirds of the existing gender pay gap of college graduates 20 years after the first childbirth, and that the gap is largely driven by differences in working hours.
The role of working experience is more moderate for individuals with no college education, but it can still account for about one third of the overall gender wage gap 20 years after childbirth.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
by Monica Costa Dias, Robert Joyce and Francesca Parodi
Despite some convergence, the gender pay gap remains large.
In this study, we use BHPS-USoc data to document the evolution of the gender pay gap in the UK over the past 25 years and its association with fertility. We also investigate the potential role of various differences in career patterns between men and women and how they change with the arrival of the first child.
We show that differences in accumulated years of experience and in working hours play an important role. We develop an empirical wage model to estimate the causal effect of working experience in the wages of women. Estimates from this model are then used to simulate counterfactual scenarios where women always work full-time if at all and where women work as much as men do.
We find that differences in working experience can explain up to two thirds of the existing gender pay gap of college graduates 20 years after the first childbirth, and that the gap is largely driven by differences in working hours.
The role of working experience is more moderate for individuals with no college education, but it can still account for about one third of the overall gender wage gap 20 years after childbirth.
Full text (PDF 28pp)
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Female Employment and Fertility - The Effects of Rising Female Wages
a CEP Discussion Paper (No 1156 (July 2012)) by Christian Siegel (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science)
Abstract
Increases in female employment and falling fertility rates have often been linked to rising female wages. However, over the last 30 years the US total fertility rate has been fairly stable while female wages have continued to grow. Over the same period, we observe that women’s hours spent on housework have declined, but men’s have increased.
I propose a model with a shrinking gender wage gap that can capture these trends.
While rising relative wages tend to increase women’s labour supply and, due to higher opportunity cost, lower fertility, they also lead to a partial reallocation of home production from women to men, and a higher use of labour-saving inputs into home production.
I find that both these trends are important in understanding why fertility did not decline to even lower levels. As the gender wage gap declines, a father’s time at home becomes more important for raising children.
When the disutilities from working in the market and at home are imperfect substitutes, fertility can stabilize, after an initial decline, in times of increasing female market labour. That parents can acquire more market inputs into child care is what I find important in matching the timing of fertility. In a mode l extension, I show that the results are robust to intrahousehold bargaining.
JEL Classifications: D13, E24, J13, J22
Full text (PDF 56pp)
See also: Clash of Career and Family: fertility decisions after job displacement
Abstract
Increases in female employment and falling fertility rates have often been linked to rising female wages. However, over the last 30 years the US total fertility rate has been fairly stable while female wages have continued to grow. Over the same period, we observe that women’s hours spent on housework have declined, but men’s have increased.
I propose a model with a shrinking gender wage gap that can capture these trends.
While rising relative wages tend to increase women’s labour supply and, due to higher opportunity cost, lower fertility, they also lead to a partial reallocation of home production from women to men, and a higher use of labour-saving inputs into home production.
I find that both these trends are important in understanding why fertility did not decline to even lower levels. As the gender wage gap declines, a father’s time at home becomes more important for raising children.
When the disutilities from working in the market and at home are imperfect substitutes, fertility can stabilize, after an initial decline, in times of increasing female market labour. That parents can acquire more market inputs into child care is what I find important in matching the timing of fertility. In a mode l extension, I show that the results are robust to intrahousehold bargaining.
JEL Classifications: D13, E24, J13, J22
Full text (PDF 56pp)
See also: Clash of Career and Family: fertility decisions after job displacement
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Clash of Career and Family: fertility decisions after job displacement
an article by Emilia Del Bono (University of Essex), Andrea Weber (University of Mannheim) and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer (University of Linz and IHS Vienna) published in Journal of the European Economic Association Volume 10 Issue 4 (August 2012)
Abstract
In this paper we investigate how career considerations may affect fertility decisions in the presence of a temporary employment shock. We compare the birth rates of women displaced by a plant closure with those of women unaffected by job loss after establishing the pre-displacement comparability of these groups.
Our results reveal that job displacement reduces average fertility by 5%–10%, and that these effects are largely explained by the response of women in more skilled occupations. We offer an explanation of our results based on career interruptions of women.
JEL classifications: J13 J64 J65 J24
Abstract
In this paper we investigate how career considerations may affect fertility decisions in the presence of a temporary employment shock. We compare the birth rates of women displaced by a plant closure with those of women unaffected by job loss after establishing the pre-displacement comparability of these groups.
Our results reveal that job displacement reduces average fertility by 5%–10%, and that these effects are largely explained by the response of women in more skilled occupations. We offer an explanation of our results based on career interruptions of women.
JEL classifications: J13 J64 J65 J24
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