The Labor Market Behavior of Married Women with Young Children in the U.S.: Have Differences by Religion Disappeared?

Evelyn Lehrer () and Yu Chen ()
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Yu Chen: University of Illinois at Chicago

No 7254, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, conducted in the United States, we study the role of religious affiliation and participation in the labor supply behavior of non-Hispanic married women with young children. We estimate ordered probit models with a trichotomous dependent variable indicating full-time employment, part-time employment or non-employment. We find that the labor market decisions of Catholic women are not significantly different from those of their mainline Protestant counterparts, and that women affiliated with conservative Protestant denominations continue to stand out for their low levels of labor market attachment. With regard to religious participation, we find a non-linear association: the probability of non-employment is high both among women who have zero attendance at religious services and among those who attend more than once a week - the latter especially. Reasons for these non-linearities are explored. Our results suggest that future research on relationships between religious participation and various economic and demographic outcomes should be based on models that allow for non-linearities and also for differences in the effects of religious participation by religious affiliation.

Keywords: religion; female employment; women's labor market behavior; religious affiliation; religious participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J24 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-lab, nep-lma and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in Keister, L. and Sherkat, D. (eds.): Religion and Inequality in America - Research and Theory on Religion's Role in Stratification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

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