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Educational Attainment and Family Gaps in Womens Wages: Evidence from Five Industrialized Countries

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  • Erin Todd

Abstract

This paper employs Luxembourg Income Study data for women in five industrialized countries to answer the following questions: Do family gaps in womens wage vary across levels of education? Does educational attainment help to ""insure"" a woman against child wage penalties? Cross-national analysis of ""family gaps"" in womens wages provides clear evidence that wage penalties to motherhood vary significantly in magnitude across countries. Harkness and Waldfogel (1999) estimate these differentials between the wages of mothers and non-mothers for seven industrialized countries. They find that family gaps appear to be largest in Anglo-Saxon countries. The character of our research is primarily exploratory, but some basic conclusions can be drawn from our results. In Canada and the United States, we find that a high educational attainment acts as a ""shock absorber,"" almost eliminating the large negative effects of children on a womans wages; results for Germany are similar. We find these results to be robust to the inclusion of part-time workers in the sample. We conclude that educational attainment does help to offset the family gaps faced by mothers in some countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin Todd, 2001. "Educational Attainment and Family Gaps in Womens Wages: Evidence from Five Industrialized Countries," LIS Working papers 246, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:246
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    1. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "Wage Structure and Gender Earnings Differentials: An International Comparison," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages 29-62, Suppl..
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    3. Susan Harkness & Jane Waldfogel, 1999. "The Family Gap in Pay: Evidence from Seven Industrialised Countries," CASE Papers 030, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    4. Harkness, Susan & Waldfogel, Jane, 1999. "The family gap in pay," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51396, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Harkness, Susan & Waldfogel, Jane, 1999. "The family gap in pay: evidence from seven industrialised countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6481, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Jane Waldfogel & Susan Harkness, 1999. "The Family Gap in Pay: Evidence from Seven Industrialized Countries," LIS Working papers 219, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Waldfogel, Jane, 1998. "The Family Gap for Young Women in the United States and Britain: Can Maternity Leave Make a Difference?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 505-545, July.
    8. Freeman, Richard B. & Katz, Lawrence F. (ed.), 1995. "Differences and Changes in Wage Structures," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226261607, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Elizabeth Ty Wilde & Lily Batchelder & David T. Ellwood, 2010. "The Mommy Track Divides: The Impact of Childbearing on Wages of Women of Differing Skill Levels," NBER Working Papers 16582, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Stewart, Kitty, 2011. "Employment trajectories and later employment outcomes for mothers in the British Household Panel Survey: an analysis by skill level," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41396, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Lacuesta, Aitor & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2010. "Chutes and Ladders: Dual Tracks and the Motherhood Dip," IZA Discussion Papers 5403, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. David Kalist, 2008. "Does Motherhood Affect Productivity, Relative Performance, and Earnings?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 219-235, September.
    5. Jane Waldfogel & Wendy Sigle-Rushton, 2006. "Motherhood and Women’s Earnings in Anglo-American, Continental European, and Nordic Countries," LIS Working papers 454, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Jean Kimmel, 2005. "“The Motherhood Wage Gap for Women in the United States: The Importance of College and Fertility Delay”," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 17-48, September.
    7. Cadsby, C. Bram & Servátka, Maroš & Song, Fei, 2013. "How competitive are female professionals? A tale of identity conflict," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 284-303.
    8. Arnaud Dupuy & Daniel Fernandez-Kranz, 2011. "International differences in the family gap in pay: the role of labour market institutions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 413-438.
    9. Eva Sierminska, 2004. "Female Income Differentials and Social Benefits: A Four Country Comparison," LIS Working papers 377, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. Yao Yao & Zheng Li, 2022. "The Impacts of Industry Wage Premiums and Education Levels on Gender Inequality: Evidence from Five Developed Countries," LIS Working papers 832, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    11. 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.
    12. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Kimmel, Jean, 2008. "New Evidence on the Motherhood Wage Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 3662, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Molina, José Alberto & Montuenga, Víctor M., 2008. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 3574, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Budig, Michelle J. & Misra, Joya & Boeckmann, Irene, 2016. "Work-family policy trade-offs for mothers? Unpacking the cross-national variation in motherhood earnings penalties," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 119-177.
    15. Wendy Sigle-Rushton & Jane Waldfogel, 2007. "Motherhood and women's earnings in Anglo-American, Continental European, and Nordic Countries," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 55-91.
    16. Kitty Stewart, 2011. "Employment trajectories and later employment outcomes for mothers in the British Household Panel Survey: An analysis by skill level," CASE Papers case144, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.

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