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The Motherhood Wage Gap for Women in the United States: The Importance of College and Fertility Delay

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Author Info
Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes () (San Diego State University)
Jean Kimmel () (Western Michigan University)

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Abstract

One of the stylised facts from the past thirty years has been the declining rate of first births before age 30 for all women and the increase rate of first births after age 30 among women with four-year college degrees (Martin 2000). What are some of the factors behind women’s decision to postpone their childbearing? We hypothesize that the wage difference often observed between like-educated mothers and non-mothers (Waldfogel 1998) may be affected by the postponement of childbearing until after careers are fully established. We use individual-level data on women from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and find that: (a) College-educated mothers do not experience a motherhood wage penalty at all, and (b) fertility delay enhances their earnings opportunities even further.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centro de Estudios Andaluces in its series Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces with number E2004/07.

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Length: 56 pages
Date of creation: 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cea:doctra:e2004_07

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Related research
Keywords: Motherhood wage penalty; fertility; postponement of childbearing; college-educated mothers; United States.;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Iyigun, Murat F., 2000. "Timing of childbearing and economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 255-269, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sanders Korenman & David Neumark, 1990. "Marriage, Motherhood, and Wages," NBER Working Papers 3473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Joyce P. Jacobsen & James Wishart Pearce III & Joshua L. Rosenbloom, 2005. "Measuring the Effects of Childbearing on Labor Market Outcomes," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2005-002, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Suzanne Duryea & Jere R. Behrman & Miguel Székely, 1999. "Decomposing Fertility Differences Across World Regions and Over Time: Is Improved Health More Important than Women's Schooling?," RES Working Papers 4182, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  5. McKinley L. Blackburn & David E. Bloom, 1990. "Fertility Timing, Wages, and Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 3422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Becker, Gary S, 1985. "Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages S33-58, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. repec:fth:inadeb:406 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Murphy, Kevin M & Welch, Finis, 1990. "Empirical Age-Earnings Profiles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 202-29, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Derek Neal, 2004. "The Measured Black-White Wage Gap among Women Is Too Small," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(S1), pages S1-S28, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Apps, Patricia & Rees, Ray, 2001. "Fertility, Female Labor Supply and Public Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 409, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  11. V. Joseph Hotz & Seth G. Sanders & Susan Williams McElroy, 1999. "Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," NBER Working Papers 7397, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Galor, Oded & Weil, David, 1995. "The Gender Gap, Fertility and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 1157, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Charles H. Mullin & Ping Wang, 2002. "The Timing of Childbearing among Heterogeneous Women in Dynamic General Equilibrium," NBER Working Papers 9231, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Drolet, Marie, 2002. "Wives, Mothers and Wages: Does Timing Matter?," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2002186e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
  15. Trude Lappegård, 2000. "New fertility trends in Norway," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(3), March. [Downloadable!]
  16. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Nezih Guner & John Knowles, 2002. "Why Do Women Wait? Matching, Wage Inequality, and the Incentives for Fertility Delay," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(4), pages 815-855, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Siv Gustafsson, 2001. "Optimal age at motherhood. Theoretical and empirical considerations on postponement of maternity in Europe," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 225-247. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. José Molina & Víctor Montuenga, 2009. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in Spain," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 237-251, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Kimmel, Jean, 2008. "New Evidence on the Motherhood Wage Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 3662, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Molina, José Alberto & Montuenga, Víctor M., 2008. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 3574, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Lucie Schmidt, 2007. "Risk Preferences and the Timing of Marriage and Childbearing," Department of Economics Working Papers 2007-3, Department of Economics, Williams College. [Downloadable!]
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