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The comparative effectiveness of public policies to fight motherhood-induced employment penalties and decreasing fertility in the former EU-15

Author

Listed:
  • Jérôme De Henau
  • Danièle Meulders
  • Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai

Abstract

In this paper we aim to study and compare the countries of the former EU-15 in terms of the difference in labour market conditions between mothers and non-mothers and we look at how public policies can be designed in order to minimise the employment penalties associated with the presence of young children and thus promote parenthood by working women. As women choose to take part in paid employment, fertility rates will depend on their possibilities to combine employment and motherhood. As a result, the motherhood-induced employment penalties discussed in this paper as well as the role of public policies should be given priority attention by politicians and policy-makers. Firstly, in this paper we start out from a multinomial logit model to analyse motherhood-induced employment gaps in the EU-15. Then, various decomposition techniques (the method of recycled prediction and the Oaxaca (1973) and Blinder (1973) technique adapted to the non-linear case) are applied to the computed gross FTE employment gaps between mothers and non-mothers to isolate the net employment effect associated with the presence of children from that of differences in characteristics between mothers and non-mothers. Special attention is also given to the specific role of education to contain the negative labour market consequences that derive from the presence of young children. It seems that differences in characteristics such as age, education and non labour personal income do not influence a lot the difference in employment status. Secondly, we use an OLS regression to confront motherhood-induced employment penalties with selfconstructed country-specific indicators of child policies, used as explanatory variables, in order to test the impact and effectiveness of policies of different design and generosity on these employment gaps that separate mothers of young children from non-mothers and mothers with grown up children. We round off our analysis by presenting a new typology and country-specific overview of the adjustment mechanisms applied by career-pursuing mothers on the labour market as well as of the supportiveness of different child policies. In the conclusion, we carefully review the main results of this research, advance a number of policy recommendations and suggest interesting avenues for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jérôme De Henau & Danièle Meulders & Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai, 2006. "The comparative effectiveness of public policies to fight motherhood-induced employment penalties and decreasing fertility in the former EU-15," DULBEA Working Papers 0026, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:dul:wpaper:06-02rs
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    Cited by:

    1. Leila Maron & Danièle Meulders, 2008. "Effets de la parentalité sur l'emploi en Europe," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 51(2/3), pages 185-220.
    2. Ariane Pailhé & Oxana Sinyavskaya, 2009. "The work of women in France and Russia: The impact of children and gender values [Le travail des femmes en France et en Russie : l'effet des enfants et des valeurs de genre]," Post-Print hal-02089624, HAL.
    3. Sabine Chaupain-Guillot & Olivier Guillot & Eliane Jankeliowitch-Laval, 2008. "Choix d’activité des mères et garde des jeunes enfants : une comparaison entre les pays de l’Europe des Quinze à partir des données de l’ECHP," Working Papers of BETA 2008-03, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    4. Ulrike Huemer & Kristina Budimir & Rainer Eppel, 2010. "Soziale Sicherungssysteme und Arbeitsmarktperformanz in der EU. Mikroökonometrische Analyse," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41154, April.
    5. Jérôme De Henau & Leila Maron & Danièle Meulders & Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai, 2007. "Travail et maternité en Europe: conditions de travail et politiques publiques," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 50(1), pages 63-88.
    6. Leila Maron & Danièle Meulders, 2008. "Having a child: a penalty or bonus for mother's and father's employment in Europe," DULBEA Working Papers 08-05.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour market conditions; social policies; fertility; postponement of maternity; dual-earner couples; welfare states; synthetic indicators.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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