Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Explaining the Motherhood Wage Penalty During the Early Occupational Career

  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

Prior research shows that mothers earn lower hourly wages than women without children, and that this maternal wage penalty cannot be fully explained by differences between mothers and other women in work experience and job characteristics. This research examines whether the residual motherhood wage penalty results from differences between mothers and other women in the accumulation of work interruptions and breaks in schooling. Using longitudinal data for 486 women followed from ages 19 to 31 in the Minnesota Youth Development Study, we find that accumulated months not in the labor force and not enrolled in school explain the residual pay gap between mothers and other women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For instance, Budig and England ( 2001 ) defined employment breaks as the total number of times that the respondent was out of employment for more than six weeks since her first full-time job of at least six weeks’ duration. Gangl and Ziefle ( 2009 ) measured work interruptions as the total number of months spent out of the labor force while the youngest biological child was younger than age 6.

  2. Because the slope parameters in our two-level hierarchical models were specified as random, in supplemental analyses, we included the individual means from each time-varying covariate \( \overline {{X_i}} \) as predictors in the Level 2 slope equation to assess whether unobserved slope-effects might be biasing our findings (Halaby 2003:522–523). Introducing \( \overline {{X_i}} \) to the slope equations did not substantively change the findings that we report in this article and thus were not included in the models shown in Tables 2 and 3.

  3. In analyses not shown, the inclusion of the number of children squared in Model 1 was not statistically significant (p > .10). We also included dummy variables to assess whether the effect of number of children on wages was nonlinear. We found that women’s wages declined by 3% for one child, by 10% for two children, and by 22% for three or more children. Consistent with recent research (Budig and England 2001:217), number of children has a monotonic and essentially linear effect on the hourly wages of women.

  4. This finding might be due to women having a higher reservation wage (i.e., the point at which they are willing to return to the labor market) when their spouse or cohabiting partner is employed full-time compared with when they are single. We thank an anonymous reviewer for this interpretation.

  5. In this measure of employment interruptions, we counted only breaks of four or more months to account for a possible three-month maternity leave among working mothers. Nonetheless, it is difficult to say with certainty whether working mothers had taken a paid or unpaid maternity leave.

References

  • Aisenbrey, S., Evertsson, M., & Grunow, D. (2009). Is there a career penalty for mothers’ time out? A comparison of Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Social Forces, 88, 573–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allison, P. D. (2005). Fixed effects regression methods for longitudinal data using SAS. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amato, P. R., Booth, A., Johnson, D., & Rogers, S. (2007). Alone together: How marriage in America is changing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. J., Binder, M., & Krause, K. (2003). The motherhood wage penalty revisited: Experience, heterogeneity, work effort and work schedule flexibility. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 56, 273–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avellar, S., & Smock, P. (2003). Has the price of motherhood declined over time? A cross-cohort comparison of the motherhood wage penalty. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 597–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. (1985). Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 3(Part 2), S33–S58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewster, K. L., & Rindfuss, R. R. (2000). Fertility and women’s employment in industrialized countries. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 271–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, I., & Kennelly, I. (1999). Stereotypes and realities: Images of black women in the labor market. In I. Browne (Ed.), Latinas and African American women at work: Race, gender, and economic inequality (pp. 302–326). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchmann, M. (1989). The script of life in modern society: Entry into adulthood in a changing world. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Budig, M. J. (2003). Are women’s employment and fertility histories interdependent? An examination of causal order using event history analysis. Social Science Research, 32, 376–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budig, M. J., & England, P. (2001). The wage penalty for motherhood. American Sociological Review, 66, 204–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bumpass, L., & Lu, H.-H. (2000). Trends in cohabitation and implications for children’s family contexts in the United States. Population Studies, 54, 29–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Correll, S. J., Benard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297–1338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felmlee, D. H. (1995). Causes and consequences of women’s employment discontinuity, 1967–1973. Work and Occupations, 22, 167–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, M. D., Shanahan, M. J., Mortimer, J. T., & Ryu, S. (1991). Work experience and control orientation in adolescence. American Sociological Review, 56, 597–611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangl, M., & Ziefle, A. (2009). Motherhood, labor force behavior, and women’s careers: An empirical assessment of the wage penalty for motherhood in Britain, Germany, and the United States. Demography, 46, 341–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glauber, R. (2007). Marriage and the motherhood wage penalty among African Americans, Hispanics, and whites. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 951–961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (2002). Lifestyle preferences as determinants of women’s differentiated labor market careers. Work and Occupations, 29, 428–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halaby, C. N. (2003). Panel models for the analysis of change and growth in life course studies. In J. T. Mortimer & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 503–528). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hofferth, S. L., & Curtin, S. C. (2006). Parental leave statutes and maternal return to work after childbirth in the United States. Work and Occupations, 33, 73–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison, R., & McNall, M. (1994). Early marriage in a Hmong cohort. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 579–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen, J. P., & Levin, L. M. (1995). Effects of intermittent labor force attachment on women’s earnings. Monthly Labor Review, 118, 14–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joesch, J. M. (1994). Children and the timing of women’s paid work after childbirth: A further specification of the relationship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 429–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. K. (2005). Family roles and work values: Processes of selection and change with age. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 352–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L., Reskin, B. F., & Hudson, K. (2000). Bad jobs in America: Standard and nonstandard employment relations and job quality in the United States. American Sociological Review, 65, 256–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerckhoff, A. C. (2002). The transition from school to work. In J. T. Mortimer & R. Larson (Eds.), The changing adolescent experience: Societal trends and the transition to adulthood (pp. 52–87). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Klerman, J. A., & Leibowitz, A. (1999). Job continuity among new mothers. Demography, 36, 145–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, L. G., Kelly-Reid, J. E., & Ginder, S. A. (2010). Enrollment in postsecondary institutions, fall 2008; graduation rates, 2002 and 2005 cohorts; and financial statistics, fiscal year 2008 (NCES 2010–152). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korenman, S., & Neumark, D. (1992). Marriage, motherhood, and wages. Journal of Human Resources, 27, 233–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Light, A. (2001). In-school work experience and the returns to schooling. Journal of Labor Economics, 19, 65–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg, S., & Rose, E. (2000). Parenthood and the earnings of married men and women. Labour Economics, 7, 689–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNall, M., Dunnigan, T., & Mortimer, J. T. (1994). The educational achievement of the St. Paul Hmong. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 25, 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J., & Polachek, S. (1974). Family investments in human capital: Earnings of women. Journal of Political Economy, 82, 76–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, J. T. (2003). Working and growing up in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mortimer, J. T., Vuolo, M., Staff, J., Wakefield, S., & Xie, W. (2008). Tracing the timing of “career” acquisition in a contemporary youth cohort. Work and Occupations, 35, 44–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neumark, D., & Korenman, S. (1994). Sources of bias in women’s wage equations: Results using sibling data. Journal of Human Resources, 29, 379–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, V. K. (1997). Women’s employment and the gain to marriage: The specialization and trading model. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 431–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polachek, S. (1981). Occupational self-selection: A human capital approach to sex differences in occupational structure. Review of Economics and Statistics, 63, 60–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rindfuss, R. R. (1991). The young adult years: Diversity, structural change, and fertility. Demography, 28, 493–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rindfuss, R. R., Swicegood, C. G., & Rosenfeld, R. A. (1987). Disorder in the life course: How common and does it matter? American Sociological Review, 52, 785–801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayer, L. C., Bianchi, S. M., & Robinson, J. P. (2004). Are parents investing less in children? Trends in mothers’ and fathers’ time. American Journal of Sociology, 110, 1–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I., & Silbereisen, R. K. (Eds.). (2009). Transitions from school to work: Globalisation, individualisation, and patterns of diversity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan, M. J. (2000). Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: Variability and mechanisms in life course perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 667–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • South, S. J., & Spitze, G. (1994). Housework in marital and nonmarital households. American Sociological Review, 59, 327–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staff, J., & Mortimer, J. T. (2007). Educational and work strategies from adolescence to early adulthood: Consequences for educational attainment. Social Forces, 85, 1169–1194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi, H. (1999). The timing of childbearing and women’s wages. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 1008–1019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ventura, S. J., & Bachrach, C. A. (2000). Nonmarital childbearing in the United States, 1940–1999. National Vital Statistics Reports, 48, (16). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

  • Waldfogel, J. (1997). The effect of children on women’s wages. American Sociological Review, 62, 209–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldfogel, J. (1998a). The family gap for young women in the United States and Britain: Can maternity leave make a difference? Journal of Labor Economics, 16, 505–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldfogel, J. (1998b). Understanding the family gap in pay for women with children. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12, 137–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, L., & Rogers, S. J. (2000). Economic circumstances and family outcomes: A review of the 1990s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1035–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, L. L., Bumpass, L. L., & Musick, K. (2001). Historical and life course trajectories of nonmarital childbearing. In L. L. Wu & B. Wolfe (Eds.), Out of wedlock: Causes and consequences of nonmarital fertility (pp. 2–48). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Grants titled “Work Experience and Mental Health: A Panel Study of Youth” from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD44138) and formerly from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843) funded this research. The first author is grateful for support from a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award in Population Research from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K01 HD054467). The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the sponsors. A prior version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, March 29–31, 2007. We are grateful to Jennifer Hook, D. Wayne Osgood, and Stacy Silver for comments on a prior draft as well as to Christina Cummins for research assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA, 16802-6207, USA

    Jeremy Staff

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jeylan T. Mortimer

Authors
  1. Jeremy Staff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeylan T. Mortimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeremy Staff.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Staff, J., Mortimer, J.T. Explaining the Motherhood Wage Penalty During the Early Occupational Career. Demography 49, 1–21 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-011-0068-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-011-0068-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation