Abstract
This article examines whether the passage of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) altered mothers' postpartum employment continuity, job retention, andwages. Data were drawn from the 1984-1997waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Women who had a child post-FMLA returned to work more quickly and were more likely to return to the same job. However, except for those who remained with the same employer, wages in the 2 years after birth declined. The results suggest that the FMLA increased employment and retention but reduced wages in the short term as mothers traded earnings for job flexibility.
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