Is the future of work childless? Self-employment and fertility

Judite Gonçalves and Pedro Martins

No 401, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: The growth of self-employment and in particular gig work may explain part of the declining fertility rates observed in many countries. This study examines this question drawing on longitudinal data to compare women’s fertility, proxied by maternity leave uptake, when self-employed or wage workers. It considers the case of Portugal, which allows to focus on structural aspects of work types, as fertility-related social protection there does not discriminate between self-employment and wage work. Results indicate that there are no statistically significant differences in fertility between employees and self-employed women. These findings highlight the importance of social protection for the self-employed, at least as far as their fertility is concerned.

Keywords: fertility; instrumental variables; maternity leave; self-employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:401

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