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Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data

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  • Auer, Wolfgang

    (Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

  • Danzer, Natalia

    (Free University of Berlin)

Abstract

We study the short- to medium-run effects of starting a career on a fixed-term contract on subsequent fertility outcomes. We focus on the career start since we expect that temporary contracts and their inherent economic uncertainty imply a path dependency which might have spill-over effects on other domains of life. Our empirical analysis is based on rich data from the German Socio-Economic Panel which provides comprehensive information about individuals' labour market history as well as fertility behaviour. Our main results are: Women (i) tend to postpone their first birth due to fixed-term employment at labour market entry and (ii) reduce the number of children in the first 10 years after graduation. These associations are strongest in the subsample of native women with at least vocational training. (iii) In contrast, we find no significant correlations for men. We argue that these findings are robust to potential endogeneity threats.

Suggested Citation

  • Auer, Wolfgang & Danzer, Natalia, 2014. "Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 8612, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8612
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew E. Clark & Anthony Lepinteur, 2022. "A Natural Experiment on Job Insecurity and Fertility in France," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(2), pages 386-398, May.
    2. Morgenroth, Nicolas & Schels, Brigitte & Teichler, Nils, 2022. "Are Men or Women More Unsettled by Fixed-Term Contracts? Gender Differences in Affective Job Insecurity and the Role of Household Context and Labour Market Positions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 560-574.
    3. Wooden, Mark & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Mooi-Reci, Irma, 2021. "The Differential Impacts of Contingent Employment on Fertility: Evidence from Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 14850, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Wolfgang Auer & Natalia Danzer & Anita Fichtl & Anita Dietrich, 2015. "Economic Uncertainty: Temporary Contracts Make it Harder to Start a Family," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 68(18), pages 35-41, September.
    5. Michael Weber, 2016. "Wage Determination and Employment Adjustment in Croatia," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 17(1), pages 22-26, April.
    6. Marcus, Jan, 2022. "The Length of Schooling and the Timing of Family Formation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 68(1), pages 1-45.
    7. Landaud, Fanny, 2021. "From employment to engagement? Stable jobs, temporary jobs, and cohabiting relationships," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Virginia Sanchez Marcos & Ezgi Kaya & Nezih Guner, 2017. "Labor Market Frictions and Lowest Low Fertility," 2017 Meeting Papers 1015, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Mathias Kloss & Thomas Kirschstein & Steffen Liebscher & Martin Petrick, 2019. "Robust Productivity Analysis: An application to German FADN data," Papers 1902.00678, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2019.
    10. Michael Weber, 2016. "Wage Determination and Employment Adjustment in Croatia," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 17(01), pages 22-26, April.
    11. Tatiana Karabchuk, 2020. "Job Instability and Fertility Intentions of Young Adults in Europe: Does Labor Market Legislation Matter?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 688(1), pages 225-245, March.
    12. Scheuring, Sonja & Voßemer, Jonas & Baranowska-Rataj, Anna & Tattarini, Giulia, 2021. "Does Fixed-Term Employment Have Spillover Effects on the Well-Being of Partners? A Panel Data Analysis for East and West Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(7), pages 3001-3021.
    13. Nezih Guner & Ezgi Kaya & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2021. "Labor Market Institutions and Fertility," Working Papers 1297, Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Inga Laß & Thomas Skora & Heiko Rüger & Mark Wooden & Martin Bujard, 2021. "Does temporary employment increase length of commuting: Longitudinal evidence from Australia and Germany," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n07, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    15. Pieroni, Luca & d’Agostino, Giorgio & Lanari, Donatella & Scarlato, Margherita, 2023. "Temporary employment and fertility in Italy: The effect of two labor market reforms in the early 2000s," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    16. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Yew, Siew Ling, 2022. "Local crime and fertility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 312-331.
    17. Landaud, Fanny, 2019. "From Employment to Engagement? Stable Jobs, Temporary Jobs, and Cohabiting Relationships," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 10/2019, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics, revised 30 Apr 2019.
    18. Inga Laß, 2020. "The Effects of Non-standard Employment on the Transition to Parenthood Within Couples: A Comparison of Germany and Australia," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 843-874, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    career start; fixed-term employment; postponement of maternity; fertility; economic uncertainty; graduation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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