This study examines earnings losses associated with motherhood using longitudinal administrative Canadian data. Contrary to the endogenous motherhood hypothesis, the author found no dips in earnings for women during their prechildbirth years. Although the results show that earnings losses incurred by mothers in the year of childbirth and the year thereafter were substantial, it was found that these earnings losses declined over the postchildbirth years, and for mothers who returned to their prechildbirth employers, the earnings recovery process was rapid, indicating that firm-specific human capital might play an important role.
Anderson, D., 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.
2.
Browning, M. ( 1992). Children and household economic behaviour. Journal of Economic Literature, 30, 1434-1475.
3.
Correll, S., Benard, S., & Paik, I. ( 2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297-1338.
4.
Ejrnæs, M., & Kunze, A. ( 2004). Wage dips and drops around first birth (Cam Working Paper No. 2004-01). Copenhagen, Denmark: Institute of Economics, University of Copenhagen. Retrieved from www.econ.ku.dk/cam/Files/workingpapers/2004/2004-01_ejrnes_kunze.pdf
5.
Jacobsen, J., Wishart Pearce, J., III, & Rosenbloom, J. (1999). The effects of child-bearing on married women’s labor supply and earnings: Using twin births as a natural experiment. Journal of Human Resources, 34, 449-474.
6.
Jacobson, S., LaLonde, R., & Sullivan, D. ( 1993). Earnings losses of displaced workers. American Economic Review, 83, 685-709.
7.
Lundberg, S., & Rose, E. ( 2000). Parenthood and the earnings of married men and women . Labour Economics, 7, 689-710.
8.
Marshall, K. ( 1999). Employment after childbirth. Perspectives of Labour and Income, Autumn, 18-25.
9.
Morissette, R., Zhang, X., & Frenette, M. ( 2007). Long-term earnings losses of Canadian displaced workers: Evidence from large administrative databases on firm closure and mass layoffs (Analytic Studies Branch Research Paper No. 291). Ottawa , Ontario: Statistics Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2007291-eng.pdf
10.
Oreopolous, P., Page, M., & Stevens, A.H. ( 2008). The intergenerational effects of worker displacement . Journal of Labor Economics, 26, 455-483.
11.
Phipps, S., Burton, P., & Lethbridge, L. (2001). In and out of labour market: Long-term income consequences of child-related interruptions to women’s paid work. Canadian Journal of Economics, 34, 411-429.
12.
Shapiro, D., & Mott, F.L. ( 1994). Long-term employment and earnings of women in relation to employment behavior surrounding the first birth. Journal of Human Resources, 29, 248-275.
Waldfogel, J. ( 1998). Understanding the "family gap" in pay for women with children. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12, 137-156.
15.
Zhang, X. ( 2008). The post-childbirth employment of Canadian mothers and the earnings trajectories of their continuously employed counterparts, 1983 to 2004 (Analytic Studies Branch Research Paper No. 314). Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2008314-eng.pdf
