IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v26y2012i12.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labour market integration, occupational uncertainty, and fertility choices in Germany and the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Schmitt

    (Universität Rostock)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how occupational prospects affect first-birth decisions of men and women. Contrasting the continental conservative German welfare state with the liberal market economy of the UK, the focus of analyses rests on how welfare state alignment affects fertility rationales in the context of either promising or bleak occupational prospects. The results based on data from BHPS and GSOEP show that welfare state orientations influence work-family choices, evoking a delay of family formation among British and German women with a close labour market attachment. Furthermore, a lengthy process of occupational integration tends to hamper the transition to parenthood among both men and women, and particularly in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Schmitt, 2012. "Labour market integration, occupational uncertainty, and fertility choices in Germany and the UK," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(12), pages 253-292, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:26:y:2012:i:12
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol26/12/26-12.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter McDonald, 2000. "Gender Equity in Theories of Fertility Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 427-439.
    2. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2005. "Gender, Time Use, and Public Policy over the Life Cycle," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 439-461, Autumn.
    3. S. Philip Morgan, 2003. "Is low fertility a twenty-first-century demographic crisis?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(4), pages 589-603, November.
    4. Ermisch, John & Pevalin, David J., 2003. "Who has a child as a teenager?," ISER Working Paper Series 2003-30, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Linda Haas, 2003. "Parental Leave and Gender Equality: Lessons from the European Union," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 20(1), pages 89-114, March.
    6. Andres Vikat, 2004. "Women’s labor force attachment and childbearing in Finland," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-001, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Gert G. Wagner & Joachim R. Frick & Jürgen Schupp, 2007. "The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 127(1), pages 139-169.
    8. FFF1Andres NNN1Vikat, 2004. "Women’s Labor Force Attachment and Childbearing in Finland," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 3(8), pages 177-212, April.
    9. repec:cai:poeine:pope_203_0475 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Christian Schmitt, 2008. "Labour Market Integration and the Transition to Parenthood: A Comparison of Germany and the UK," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 808, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Angelika Tölke & Martin Diewald, 2003. "Insecurities in employment and occupational careers and their impact on the transition to fatherhood in Western Germany," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 9(3), pages 41-68, September.
    12. repec:cai:poeine:pope_202_0301 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Elizabeth Thomson & Jan Hoem, 1998. "Couple childbearing plans and births in Sweden," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 35(3), pages 315-322, August.
    14. Dawn Upchurch & Lee Lillard & Constantijn Panis, 2002. "Nonmarital childbearing: Influences of education, marriage, and fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 311-329, May.
    15. Øystein Kravdal, 2002. "The impact of individual and aggregate unemployment on fertility in Norway," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 6(10), pages 263-294, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Auer, Wolfgang & Danzer, Natalia, 2014. "Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 8612, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. repec:oup:cesifo:v:62:y:2016:i:4:p:595-623. is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Angela Greulich & Olivier Thevenon & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2015. "Securing women's employment: A fertility booster in European countries?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01298946, HAL.
    4. Ann Berrington & Juliet Stone & Éva Beaujouan, 2015. "Educational differences in timing and quantum of childbearing in Britain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(26), pages 733-764, October.
    5. Hippolyte d'Albis & Angela Greulich & Grégory Ponthière, 2017. "Education, labour, and the demographic consequences of birth postponement in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(23), pages 691-728, February.
    6. Anna Matysiak & Dorota Węziak-Białowolska, 2016. "Country-Specific Conditions for Work and Family Reconciliation: An Attempt at Quantification," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(4), pages 475-510, October.
    7. Johannes Huinink & Martin Kohli, 2014. "A life-course approach to fertility," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(45), pages 1293-1326, April.
    8. Hande Inanc, 2015. "Unemployment and the timing of parenthood," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(7), pages 219-250, January.
    9. Angela Greulich & Olivier Thevenon & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2016. "Securing women's employment: A fertility booster in European countries?," Working Papers hal-01298862, HAL.
    10. Michaela Kreyenfeld & Gunnar Andersson, 2013. "Socioeconomic differences in the unemployment and fertility nexus: a comparison of Denmark and Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2013-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    11. Kuhnt, Anne-Kristin & Buhr, Petra, 2016. "Biographical risks and their impact on uncertainty in fertility expectations: A gender-specific study based on the German Family Panel," Duisburger Beiträge zur soziologischen Forschung 2016-03, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Sociology.
    12. Joanna Osiñska, 2013. "Postawy wzglêdem euro i ich determinanty– przegl¹d badañ i literatury przedmiotu," Working Papers 70, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    13. Angela Greulich & Olivier Thevenon & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2015. "Securing women's employment: A fertility booster in European countries?," Working Papers hal-01298946, HAL.
    14. Katia Begall, 2013. "How do educational and occupational resources relate to the timing of family formation? A couple analysis of the Netherlands," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(34), pages 907-936, October.
    15. Wolfgang Auer & Natalia Danzer, 2015. "Uncertainty in the labour market: How does fixed-term employment affect fertility and mental health of the young generation?," IBS Working Papers 6/2015, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cross-national comparison; fertility; first birth; occupational integration; occupational uncertainty;

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:26:y:2012:i:12. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Editorial Office) or (Christopher F Baum). General contact details of provider: http://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.