The New Lifecycle of Women’s Employment: Disappearing Humps, Sagging Middles, Expanding Tops

Claudia Goldin and Joshua Mitchell

No 22913, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: A new lifecycle of women’s employment emerged with cohorts born in the 1950s. For prior cohorts, lifecycle employment had a hump shape; it increased from the twenties to the forties, hit a peak and then declined starting in the fifties. The new lifecycle of employment is initially high and flat, there is a dip in the middle and a phasing out that is more prolonged than for previous cohorts. The hump is gone, the middle is a bit sagging and the top has greatly expanded. We explore the increase in cumulative work experience for women from the 1930s to the 1970s birth cohorts using the SIPP and the HRS. We investigate the changing labor force impact of a birth event across cohorts and by education and also the impact of taking leave or quitting. We find greatly increased labor force experience across cohorts, far less time out after a birth and greater labor force recovery for those who take paid or unpaid leave. Increased employment of women in their older ages is related to more continuous work experience across the lifecycle.

JEL-codes: J16 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-dem, nep-gen, nep-lma and nep-ltv
Note: DAE LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Claudia Goldin & Joshua Mitchell, 2017. "The New Life Cycle of Women's Employment: Disappearing Humps, Sagging Middles, Expanding Tops," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 161-182, Winter.

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Journal Article: The New Life Cycle of Women's Employment: Disappearing Humps, Sagging Middles, Expanding Tops (2017)
Working Paper: The New Lifecycle of Women's Employment: Disappearing Humps, Sagging Middle, Expanding Tops (2016)
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