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Timing Is Not Everything: How Age of Children Affects Women’s Earnings in 20 Occupation Groups Liana Christin Landivar | Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America

San Diego, CAApril 30-May 2, 2015

Women are also more likely to return to employment following a birth, and toreturn sooner than women in earlier generations.

Figure 1. Mean age at first birth, 1970-2013

26.0

21.420

22

24

26

28

‘132003 ‘93 ‘831973Year

Source: CDC/NCHS National Vital Statistics System, 1970–2013

Age of mother

Women with children are still more likely to remain out of the labor force and work part time compared with women without children.

Previous research indicates that mothers earn less than non-mothers. Researchers describe this earnings gap as a “wage penalty” or “family gap” associated with motherhood (Budig and England 2001; Waldfogel 1998). The wage gap is sensitive to timing of children as well as educational attainment and type of employment (Anderson, Binder, and Krause 2003; Amuedo-Dorantes and Kimmel 2004).

Fertility delay and access to more resources should enable women in professional occupations to maintain greater continuity of employment and experience a smaller wage penalty. On the other hand, women in professional occupations are described as having extensive work-family conflict because of long hours of work and intense parenting and employer demands (Stone 2007; Blair-Loy 2003). Women in these occupations who scale back their work hours or re-enter after a career break are shown to experience career penalties and a significant wage cut (Epstein et al. 1999).

Do mothers earn less than non-mothers? Is the earnings gap similar across occupations?Do all women benefit economically from fertility delay or is the benefit concentrated among women in particular occupations?

Data and SampleData: 2013 American Community Survey (ACS) Sample: Women ages 18 to 50, currently employed full-time, year-round (N= 29,240,583).

DefinitionsMothers = Women between the ages of 18 and 50 with at least one own child aged 0 to 17 living at home.

Preschool child = At least one child aged 0 to 5 living at home. Includes households that have a preschool child and a school-age child.

School-aged child = At least one child aged 6 to 17 living at home. Excludes households with preschool-age children.

Delayed fertility = Women ages 30-50 with a preschool child; women ages 40-50 with a school-age child. This measure is a conservative approximation, as women are grouped by age and may include a small number of women with early or normative fertility with children at the top of the age group. It also assumes later fertility among women with preschool and school-age children who are classified according to the age of the youngest child.

ResultsAmong full-time workers, women with children earn more than women without children.

37,598 37,22636,266

No children Preschool children School-age children

Figure 4. Median earnings of women ages 18-50 employed full-time, year-round, 2013

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

Young mothers earn less than non-mothers, but older mothers earn more than non-mothers.

• Mothers between the ages of 18 and 29 and mothers ages 30 to 39 with school-age children experience an earnings penalty relative to women without children.

• Women who are between 40 and 50 with preschool children have a large earnings premium.

The earnings gap between mothers and non-mothers varies by occupation.

Mothers in managerial and professional occupations have an earnings premium.• Larger earnings premium among mothers of preschoolers in computer,

engineering, science, and legal occupations, where mothers earn between$9,300 and $15,300 more per year.

• Mothers of school-age children earn substantially more than non-mothers in management, science, and computer occupations, ranging from $8,700to $9,400 per year.

In non-managerial and professional occupations:• Mothers of preschoolers experience an earnings penalty, except among

those working in sales or protective service occupations. • The earnings gap is smaller between non-mothers and mothers of

school-age children.• Mothers of school-age children earn less than non-mothers in agricultural,

food preparation, and production occupations.

Do mothers in managerial and professional occupations earn more than non-mothers even if they have children when they are young? Conversely, can women in service, office, construction, or production occupations experience an earnings premium by delaying fertility?

Figure 7. Earnings penalty or premium by occupation and age among mothers of preschool children, 2013*

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

*Compared with non-mothers in the same age group.

Women in most managerial and professional occupations experience an earnings premium so long as they are not young mothers. Fertility at older ages is associated with an earnings premium.

• Among mothers of preschoolers, older age is associated with an earnings premium in most management and professional occupations and protective service, office, and sales occupations.

• Mothers of preschoolers in science and education occupations experience a premium at all ages.

• Having children at older ages does not translate into an earnings premium for women in construction, production, agriculture, health care support, cleaning and maintenance, or food preparation, where mothers earn less than non-mothers or there is no statistical difference in their earnings.

Among mothers of school-age children, young age is associated with earnings penalties in most occupations relative to non-mothers. No occupation provides a premium.

• Mothers of school-age children in engineering and legal occupations, and health care practitioners have large earnings penalties among young mothers.

• Mothers in protective service and cleaning and maintenance show no statistical difference in earnings from non-mothers, even if they have their children young.

Legal occupations stand out for having among the largest premiums for delayed fertility. Part of the earnings gap is a result of women going into different jobs within these fields. This may indicate that in this field, the parenthood gap in earnings stems from unequal representation across legal occupations and is sensitive to fertility timing. Younger mothers may be on a different career track and may not easily reach earnings parity with non-mothers or late mothers.

Summary• Mothers are less likely to be employed than non-mothers, which results in

a selection effect among those who remain employed. Mothers with higher earnings prospects tend to remain in the labor force (Landivar 2014). As aresult, mothers earn more than non-mothers overall.

• Women in managerial and professional occupations experience the largest earnings penalty for early motherhood, and also the largest earnings premium for older motherhood.

• Fertility delay is not an effective strategy for increased earnings in most other occupations. There is no premium for older motherhood in most non-managerial and professional occupations. These occupations are less likely to require advanced degrees or offer career ladders so fertility delay would not necessarily result in more extensive educational preparation or career progress.

ReferencesAmuedo-Dorantes, C. and J. Kimmel. 2004. “The Motherhood Wage Gap for Women in the United States: The Importance of

College and Fertility Delay.” Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/07.

Anderson, D., M. Binder, and K. Krause. 2003. “The Motherhood Wage Penalty Revisited: Experience, Heterogeneity, Work Effort, and Work Schedule Flexibility.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 56(2): 273-294.

Blair-Loy, M. 2003. Competing Devotions: Career and Family among Women Executives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Budig, M. J. and P. England. 2001. “The Wage Penalty for Motherhood.” American Sociological Review 66(2): 204-225.

Epstein, C. F., C. Seron, B. Oglensky, and R. Sauté. 1999. The Part-Time Paradox: Time Norms, Professional Life, Family, and Gender. New York, NY: Routledge.

Landivar, L. C. 2014. “Opting Out, Scaling Back, or Business-as-Usual? An Occupational Assessment of Women’s Employment.” Sociological Forum 29(1): 189-214.

Livingston, G. and D. Cohn. 2010. “The New Demography of American Motherhood.” Pew Research Center: A Social &Demographics Trends Report.

Mathews, T. J. and B. E. Hamilton. 2014. “First Births to Older Women Continue to Rise.” NCHS data brief No. 152. Hyattsville, MD:National Center for Health Statistics.

Stone, P. 2007. Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Waldfogel, J. 1998. “Understanding the ‘Family Gap’ in Pay for Women with Children.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 12: 1:137-156.

For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsamplingerror, and definitions, see: https://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/data_documentation/Accuracy/ACS_Accuracy_of_Data_2013.pdf.

BackgroundFertility delay has been linked to women’s increased educational attainment, labor force participation, and continuity of employment (Livingston and Cohn 2010). More women today are college graduates postponing childbearing, giving them more time to establish a career and accumulate resources.

Between 1970 and 2013, women’s mean age at first birth increased from 21.4 to 26 years old. Not only has the age at first birth increased, a larger share of births has shifted to women over age 34 (Mathews and Hamilton 2014).

The Representation of Mothers and Non-Mothers Across Legal Occupations

Figure 2. Women working during first pregnancy and following birth, 1961-1965 and 2005-2007

Months before birth Birth Months after birth

Working during pregnancy Working after pregnancy

Sources: 1961-1965: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Series P23-165 (Work and Family Patterns of American Women), Table B-5; 2005-2007: Survey of Income and Program Participation, 2008 Panel, Wave 2.

Percent

09 9 10 11 128 87 76 65 54 43 32 1 1 2

20

40

602005-2007

1961-1965

Figure 3. Women’s employment by age and presence of children, 2013

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

School-age childrenPreschool childrenNo children

Percent

Part time

Not inlabor force

Unemployed

Employed

Do women with children also earn less than women without children?

Research Questions

Figure 5. Median earnings by age of mother and age and presence of children, 2013

29,996 26,068 22,150

Ages 18-29

41,194 42,61034,458

Ages 30-39

40,50050,320

42,461

Ages 40-50

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

School-age childrenPreschool childrenNo children

Figure 6. Earnings penalty or premium by occupation and presence of children, 2013

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

Earnings penaltyNo

children Earnings premium

Managerial and professional occupations

TotalManagement

Business and financialComputer

EngineeringScience

Social serviceLegal

EducationArts and media

Healthcare practitionersHealthcare support

Protective serviceFood preparation

Cleaning and maintenancePersonal service

SalesOffice

AgricultureConstruction

Production and transportation

Total

Management

Business and financial

Computer

Engineering

Science

Social service

Legal

Education

Arts and media

Healthcare practitioners

Healthcare support

Protective service

Food preparation

Cleaning and maintenance

Personal service

Sales

Office

Agriculture

Construction

Production and transportation

-25k -15k -5k 5k 15k 25k 35k 45k

Women with preschool children Women with school-age children

Earnings penaltyNo

children Earnings premium

-25k -15k -5k 5k 15k 25k 35k 45k

Ages 18-29 with a preschooler Ages 30-39 with a preschooler Ages 40-50 with a preschooler

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

*Compared with non-mothers in the same age group.

Total

Management

Business and financial

Computer

Engineering

Science

Social service

Legal

Education

Arts and media

Healthcare practitioners

Healthcare support

Protective service

Food preparation

Cleaning and maintenance

Personal service

Sales

Office

Agriculture

Construction

Production and transportation

Earnings penaltyNo

children Earnings premium

-25k -15k -5k 5k 15k 25k 35k 45k

Among women aged 40 to 50, mothers of preschoolers earn $40,000 more than non-mothers.

Figure 8. Earnings penalty or premium by occupation and age among mothers of school-age children, 2013*

Ages 18-29 with a school-age child Ages 30-39 with a school-age child Ages 40-50 with a school-age child

Figure 9. Percent Distribution of Women Ages 18 to 50 in Legal Occupations by Age and Presence of Children, 2013

No children

Preschool children

School-age children

41

20

14

59

80

86

60

63

28

40

37

72

39

75

47

61

25

53

Source: 2013 American Community Survey

Ages 18-29 Ages 30-39 Ages 40-50

Lawyers and judges Paralegals and legal support