Employment Adjustments Around Childbirth

23 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2016

See all articles by Barbara Pertold-Gebicka

Barbara Pertold-Gebicka

Aarhus University - School of Business and Social Sciences; Charles University in Prague - Department of Economics

Filip Pertold

Charles University in Prague - CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Nabanita Datta Gupta

Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Using rich longitudinal register data from Denmark, we show that the allocation of mothers between the competitive private sector and the family-friendly public sector significantly changes around the birth of their first child. Specifically, mothers – post first childbirth – are increasingly switching from the private to the public sector and are also less likely to leave the public sector. The incidence of switching sectors can be partly explained by occupational characteristics, such as the convexity of pay and time pressure. In line with the compensating wage differential theory, we observe that the switch into the public sector is accompanied with a wage drop.

Keywords: motherhood, employment, sector switching, occupational characteristics

JEL Classification: J13, J16, J24

Suggested Citation

Pertold-Gebicka, Barbara and Pertold, Filip and Datta Gupta, Nabanita, Employment Adjustments Around Childbirth. IZA Discussion Paper No. 9685, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2725046 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2725046

Barbara Pertold-Gebicka (Contact Author)

Aarhus University - School of Business and Social Sciences ( email )

Bartholins Alle 10
Building 1326
Aarhus C, DK 8000
Denmark

Charles University in Prague - Department of Economics ( email )

Opletalova 21
Prague 1, 110 00
Czech Republic

Filip Pertold

Charles University in Prague - CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences ( email )

Politickych veznu 7
Prague, 111 21
Czech Republic

HOME PAGE: http://www.cerge-ei.cz

Nabanita Datta Gupta

Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University ( email )

Fuglesangs Allé 4
8210 Aarhus V
Denmark
+45 87165207 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://pure.au.dk/portal/da/ndg@econ.au.dk

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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