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Child Penalties in Labour Market Skills

Author

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  • Jessen, Jonas

    (WZB - Social Science Research Center Berlin)

  • Kinne, Lavinia

    (DIW Berlin)

  • Battisti, Michele

    (University of Glasgow)

Abstract

Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well- documented: after childbirth, mothers' employment and earnings drop persistently compared to fathers. In addition to gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers' longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section of 29 countries in the PIAAC dataset. We find a persistent drop in numeracy skills after childbirth for both parents between 0.13 (short-run) and 0.16 standard deviations (long-run), but no statistically significant difference between mothers and fathers. Estimates of child penalties in skills strongly depend on controlling for pre-determined characteristics, especially education. Additionally, there is no evidence for worse occupational skill matches for mothers after childbirth. Our findings suggest that changes in general labour market skills cannot explain child penalties in labour market outcomes, and that a cross-sectional estimation of child penalties can be sensitive to characteristics of the outcome variable.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessen, Jonas & Kinne, Lavinia & Battisti, Michele, 2024. "Child Penalties in Labour Market Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 17379, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17379
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child penalty; cognitive skills; gender inequality; PIAAC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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