Empirical Regularities across Cultures: The Effect of Children on Woman's Work

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Human Resources
Year: 1994
Volume: 29
Issue: 2

Authors (2)

Harriet Orcutt Duleep (not in RePEc) Seth Sanders (Cornell University)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Not conditioning on previous employment, we find large differences in the apparent effects of children on married women's labor supply among American-born white women and three ethnically distinct groups of newly arrived immigrants to the United States. When we account for labor supply in the previous year, differences in current employment rates narrow dramatically and similar child status-work relations emerge. Both for women who worked and for those who did not work in the previous year, number of children is not associated with the propensity to start or to continue working and, with the exception of a "baby effect" for women who worked previously, the age of the youngest child has little effect on the propensity to start or to continue working. Information about work experience prior to the previous year yields additional valuable information for predicting current labor supply.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:uwp:jhriss:v:29:y:1994:ii:1:p:328-347
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29