Delayed First Birth and New Mothers’ Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Biological Fertility Shocks

Massimiliano Bratti and Laura Cavalli

European Journal of Population, 2014, vol. 30, issue 1, 35-63

Abstract: We investigate the impact of delaying the first birth on Italian mothers’ labor market outcomes around childbirth. The effect of postponing motherhood is identified using biological fertility shocks; namely, the occurrence of miscarriages and stillbirths. Focusing on mothers’ behavior around the first birth, our study is able to isolate the effect of motherhood postponement from that of total fertility. Our estimates suggest that delaying the first birth by 1 year raises the likelihood of participating in the labor market by 1.2 % points and weekly working time by about half an hour, while we do not find any evidence that late motherhood prevents worsening of new mothers’ job conditions (the so-called “mommy track”). Our findings are robust to a number of sensitivity checks, among which are controls for partners’ characteristics and a proxy for maternal health status. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Delayed first birth; Fertility shocks; Italy; Labor market; New mothers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Working Paper: Delayed First Birth and New Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Biological Fertility Shocks (2013)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10680-013-9301-x

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