The Menopause "Penalty"

Gabriella Conti (gabriella.conti@ucl.ac.uk), Rita Ginja, Petra Persson and Barton Willage (willage@udel.edu)
Additional contact information
Gabriella Conti: University College London
Barton Willage: University of Delaware

No 2025-002, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: The motherhood penalty is well-documented, but what happens at the other end of the reproductive spectrum? Menopause—a transition often marked by debilitating physical and psychological symptoms—also entails substantial costs. Using population-wide Norwegian and Swedish data and quasi-experimental methods, we show that a menopause diagnosis leads to lasting drops in earnings and employment, alongside greater reliance on social transfers. The impact is especially severe for women with lower socioeconomic status. Increasing access to menopause-related health care can help offset these losses. Our findings reveal the hidden economic toll of menopause and the potential gains from better support policies.

Keywords: Norway; Sweden; quasi-experimental variation; social transfers; low socioeconomic status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H72 I00 I30 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
Note: First version, March 2025
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Downloads: (external link)
http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Conti_ ... enopause_penalty.pdf ECI, HI, M (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Menopause “Penalty” (2025)
Working Paper: The menopause "penalty" (2025)
Working Paper: The Menopause “Penalty” (2025)
Working Paper: The menopause "penalty" (2024)
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