The Parenthood Gap: Firms and Earnings Inequality After Kids

Rebecca Jack (), Daniel Tannenbaum () and Brenden Timpe
Additional contact information
Rebecca Jack: https://business.unl.edu/people/bjack
Daniel Tannenbaum: https://business.unl.edu/people/dtannenbaum/

No 110, Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Abstract: We document the dynamics of career paths around parenthood, capturing worker advancement within firms and across firms of differing pay. Using a new linkage between administrative data on U.S. workers’ fertility and labor-market histories, we show that the parental earnings gap is partly explained by mothers transitioning to lower-paying firms. Firm downgrading is driven by parents who take an extended absence from the labor force. Mothers who move to lower-paying firms see improved job amenities, but less generous fringe benefits. The firm’s contribution to the parental earnings gap rises over time and reaches one-third by the child’s 11th birthday.

Keywords: Gender; gender earnings gap; Firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J20 J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-01-15
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedmoi:99456

DOI: 10.21034/iwp.110

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