Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Are Mothers More Likely Than Fathers to Lose Their jobs?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Family and Economic Issues Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The motherhood wage penalty is often cited as a contributor towards the gender earnings gap. A common explanation involves women’s labor supply reductions after having children. Yet, the literature says little about whether mothers’ labor supply reductions are entirely voluntary. This study utilizes two US longitudinal panels to measure children’s impact on parent job loss. Mothers are significantly more likely than fathers to involuntarily lose their jobs. The gap is substantial, persists over time, is robust to various model specifications, exists among a host of demographic sub-samples, and is driven by gender differences in characteristic effects rather than levels.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data used in this article can be obtained from the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional replication materials are available from the author upon request.

Notes

  1. Taken from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank FRED data.

  2. The 1985 proportion was extracted from the NLSY 1979 data used in this study. The 2015 data from the NLSY risks double counting of instances when employers offer both paid and unpaid leave, thus the 2015 proportion here is taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey.

  3. Yu and Hara (2021) measure wage changes before and after having children. While pay decreases for mothers and increases for fathers, the authors contend that employer discrimination accounts for the largest portion of the motherhood penalties and fatherhood premiums

  4. Due to the NLSY structure, the job termination could have happened as recently as 1 month but also as distant as 2 years or more, depending on the NLSY wave

  5. Respondents that voluntarily left their most recent job, including for pregnancy or other family reasons, as well as those who left due to plant closures, ending of seasonal or temporary jobs, or ending of programs, are excluded from the sample. In a later robustness check they are added to the negative response (indicator equals 0) pool.

  6. Robustness checks later on expand the sample to all available waves of young people, as well as waves that draw equivalency in the proportion of parents.

  7. In the results section I demonstrate the near equivalency between Logit marginal effects and OLS coefficients in these estimations.

  8. Probit estimates confirm the Logit results.

  9. A later robustness check expands these indicators to the 3 digit specification of occupations and industries, dramatically increasing the quantity of indicators while substantially reducing the number of observations found in each.

  10. Interestingly, Glauber (2012) finds that the motherhood wage penalty is largest in female-dominated occupations.

  11. Note that the 0.004 pp gap here is unconditional, whereas the 1.1 pp gap in column 1 of Table 5 is regression-adjusted.

  12. Note here that NLSY97 waves cut off at 2015 as this was the most recent wave available to the author, and the NLSY79 waves are cut off at 1994 since including waves later than 1994 creates an even worse imbalance between the cohorts and begins to add workers beginning to age beyond typical child-bearing years.

  13. Only pooled cross-section estimations, and not fixed effects, would converge with the vast quantity of controls that 3-digit occupations and industries create.

References

  • Adda, J., Dustmann, C., & Stevens, K. (2017). The career costs of children. Journal of Political Economy, 125(2), 293–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aguiar, M., & Hurst, E. (2007). Measuring trends in leisure: The allocation of time over five decades. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3), 969–1006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ai, C., & Norton, E. (2003). Interaction terms in logit and probit models. Economics Letters, 80, 123–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albanesi, S., & Sahin, A. (2018). The gender unemployment gap. Review of Economic Dynamics, 30, 47–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alon, T., Doepke, M., Olmstead-Rumsey, J., & Tertilt, M. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on gender equality. Covid Economics, 4, 62–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Angelov, N., Johansson, P., & Lindahl, E. (2016). Parenthood and the gender gap in pay. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(3), 545–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Artz, B. (2020). The gender gap in voluntary quits. SSRN working paper 3656689. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3656689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Artz, B., Kaya, I., & Kaya, O. (2022). Gender role perspectives and job burnout. Review of Economics of the Household, 20, 447–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (1985). Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 3(1), 33–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand, M., Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2010). Dynamics of the gender gap for young professionals in the financial and corporate sectors. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(3), 228–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi, S. (2000). Maternal employment and time with children: Dramatic change or surprising continuity? Demography, 37(4), 401–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2017). The gender wage gap: Extent, trends and explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(3), 789–865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blinder, A. S. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8, 436–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandon, P. D., & Temple, J. B. (2007). Family provisions at the workplace and their relationship to absenteeism, retention, and productivity of workers: Timely evidence from prior data. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 42(2), 447–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budig, M. J., & England, P. (2001). The wage penalty for motherhood. American Sociological Review, 66(2), 204–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy, H., DeVaro, J., & Kauhanen, A. (2016). Promotion signaling, gender and turnover: New theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 126, 140–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cobb-Clark, D. A., & Schurer, S. (2012). The stability of the big-five personality traits. Economics Letters, 115, 11–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cobb-Clark, D. A., & Schurer, S. (2013). Two economists’ musing on the stability of locus of control. Economic Journal, 133, 358–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, C., Landivar, L. C., Ruppaner, L., & Scarborough, W. J. (2020). COVID-19 and the gender gap in work hours. Gender Work and Organization, 28(S(1), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Correll, S. J., Benard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112(5), 1297–1338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cortes, P., & Pan, J. (2019). When time binds: Substitutes for household production, returns to working long hours, and the skilled gender wage gap. Journal of Labor Economics, 37(2), 351–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, G. R. (2013). The family and medical leave act and the labor productivity of parents. Economics Letters, 118, 334–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glauber, R. (2012). Women’s work and working conditions: Are mothers compensated for lost wages? Work and Occupations, 39(2), 115–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glauber, R. (2018). Trends in the motherhood wage penalty and fatherhood wage premium for low, middle and high earners. Demography, 55, 1663–1680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C. (2014). A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter. American Economic Review, 104(4), 1091–1119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2016). The most egalitarian profession: Pharmacy and the evolution of a family-friendly occupation. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(3), 705–746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, N. D., & Smith, N. (2002). Children and career interruptions: The family gap in Denmark. Economica, 69, 609–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanaoka, C., Shigeoka, H., & Watanabe, Y. (2017). Do risk preferences change? Evidence from panel data before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake. NBER Working Paper, No. 21400.

  • Jann, B. (2008). The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models. The STATA Journal, 8(4), 453–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jee, E., Misra, J., & Murray-Close, M. (2019). Motherhood penalties in the U.S., 1986–2014. Journal of Marriage and Family, 81, 434–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, G., & Uhlenberg, P. (2000). The influence of parenthood on the work effort of married men and women. Social Forces, 78(3), 931–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleven, H., Landais, C., & Sogaard, J. E. (2019). Children and gender inequality: Evidence from Denmark. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(4), 181–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleven, H., Landais, C., Posch, J., Steinhauer, A., & Zweimuller, J. (2022). Do family policies reduce gender inequality? Evidence from 60 years of policy experimentation. NBER Working Paper No. 28082.

  • Kmec, J. A. (2011). Are motherhood penalties and fatherhood bonuses warranted? Comparing pro-work behaviors and conditions of mothers, fathers and non-parents. Social Science Research, 40, 444–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krapf, M., Ursprung, H. W., & Zimmerman, C. (2017). Parenthood and productivity of highly skilled labor: Evidence from the groves of academe. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 140, 147–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhhirt, M., & Ludwig, V. (2012). Domestic work and the wage penalty for motherhood in West Germany. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 186–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuziemko, I., Pan, J., Shen, J., & Washington, E. (2018). The mommy effect: Do women anticipate the employment effects of motherhood? NBER Working Paper No. 24740

  • Loughran, D. S., & Zissimopoulos, J. M. (2009). Why wait? The effect of marriage and childbearing on the wages of men and women. Journal of Human Resources, 44(2), 326–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg, S. (2005). Sons, daughters, and parental behavior. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21(3), 340–356.

    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 

  • Lundberg, S., & Rose, E. (2002). The effects of sons and daughters on men’s labor supply and wages. Review of Economics and Statistics, 84(2), 251–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg, S., McLanahan, S., & Rose, E. (2007). Child gender and father involvement in fragile families. Demography, 44(1), 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maume, D. J. (2006). Gender differences in restricting work efforts because of family responsibilities. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 859–869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oaxaca, R. (1973). Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14, 693–709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oesch, D., Lipps, O., & McDonald, P. (2017). The wage penalty of motherhood: Evidence on discrimination from panel data and a survey experiment for Switzerland. Demographic Research, 37, 1793–1824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, K., & Wang, W. (2013). Modern Parenthood: Roles of moms and dads converge as they balance work and family. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org.

  • Royalty, A. B. (1998). Job-to-job and job-to-nonemployment turnover by gender and education level. Journal of Labor Economics, 16(2), 392–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahm, C. (2012). How much does risk tolerance change? Quarterly Journal of Finance, 2, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sasser, A. C. (2005). Gender differences in physician pay: Tradeoffs between career and family. The Journal of Human Resources, 40(2), 477–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoonbroodt, A. (2018). Parental child care during and outside of typical work hours. Review of the Economics of the Household, 16, 453–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegal, M. (1987). Are sons and daughters treated more differently by fathers than by mothers? Developmental Review, 7, 183–209.

    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(3), 505–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldfogel, J. (1998b). Understanding the “family gap” in pay for women with children. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(1), 137–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, J. E., & Young, M. C. (2008). Parenthood and productivity: A study of demands, resources and family-friendly firms. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72, 110–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, R. G., Corcoran, M. E., & Courant, P. N. (1993). Pay differences among the highly paid: The male-female earnings gap in lawyer’ salaries. Journal of Labor Economics, 11(3), 417–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, W., & Hara, Y. (2021). Motherhood penalties and fatherhood premiums: Effects of parenthood on earnings growth within and across firms. Demography, 58(1), 247–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, W., & Kuo, J. C. (2017). The motherhood wage penalty by work conditions: How do occupational characteristics hinder or empower mothers? American Sociological Review, 82(4), 744–769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zamarro, G., & Prados, M. J. (2021). Gender differences in couples’ division of childcare, work and mental health during COVID-19. Review of Economics of the Household, 19, 11–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Blvd, Oshkosh, WI, 54901, USA

    Benjamin Artz

Authors
  1. Benjamin Artz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Artz.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author has nothing to disclose

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Artz, B. Are Mothers More Likely Than Fathers to Lose Their jobs?. J Fam Econ Iss (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09923-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09923-x

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation