Marital Fertility and Employment in Non-agricultural Sectors in Yugoslavia

Abstract

This chapter deals with the determinants of marital fertility and employment of married women in non-agricultural sectors in Yugoslavia.¹ It attempts to account for intercommunity variations in the period measures of marital fertility and employment of married women at the beginning of the 1970s. The chapter focuses on the early (20-4) and intermediate (25-34) childbearing years — the years to which most of the legitimate childbearing in non-agricultural sectors is confined. It is primarily concerned with marital fertility, and analyses it jointly with female employment because a priori reasoning and empirical evidence suggest that they are closely interrelated. The two variables are treated as being simultaneously determined under influence of economic, social, psychological and cultural factors. The theoretical framework underlying the analysis borrows from the ‘new home-economics’ and elaborates on several determinants which do not belong to the theory.² Hypotheses derived from the theorectical considerations are tested against a cross-section of community-level data obtained by aggregating individual census and vital statistics returns and secondary information on social and economic indicators.