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The weak impact of female labour force participation on Norwegian third-birth rates

Le faible impact de la participation féminine au marché du travail sur les troisièmes naissances en Norvège

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Abstract

Individual-level retrospective data from the Family and Occupation Survey of 1988 are used to estimate the effects of various employment variables on the third-birth rates among post-war Norwegian birth cohorts. Women who appear to have a strong work orientation, and may face relatively high opportunity costs of childbearing, do not have particularly low probability of advancing to parity three. This is consistent with previous Swedish and British studies, and lends some support to the view that other factors than stronger employment preferences and increased job opportunities have been largely responsible for the “second demographic transition” in Europe.

Résumé

On utilise ici des données rétrospectives individuelles, issues de l'enquête sur la Famille et la Profession de 1988, pour estimer les effets de diverses variables concernant l'emploi sur les taux de fécondité de rang trois de cohortes norvégiennes nées après la guerre. Les femmes qui semblent avoir une forte orientation vers la vie active, et qui peuvent faire face à des coûts relativement élevés pour leurs enfants, n'ont pas une probabilité particulièrement basse d'avoir un troisième enfant. Ce résultat est en accord avec des études suédoises et anglaises antérieures, et donne quelque appui à la thèse selon laquelle d'autres facteurs qu'un attrait plus fort vers la vie active et des offres d'emploi croissantes, ont été la cause principale de la “seconde transition démographique” en Europe.

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Kravdal, Ø. The weak impact of female labour force participation on Norwegian third-birth rates. Eur J Population 8, 247–263 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797212

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797212

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