Changes in Employment Uncertainty and the Fertility Intention-Realization Link in Switzerland

• In Event: 462 - Regular Session. Fertility

Abstract

How do changes in employment uncertainty matter for fertility? Empirical findings on this issue are rather inconclusive. We argue that one reason for this is that the subjective experience of employment uncertainty has received insufficient attention. Employment uncertainty needs to be conceptualized in a manner that goes beyond perceiving it as mere “factual” uncertainty and captures its subjective dimension. We include female and male employment uncertainty jointly and incorporate a dynamic aspect of rising and declining uncertainty. We explore its impact on the stability and change of childbearing intentions using the Swiss Household Panel (SHP 2002-2011). Our results confirm the need for a more differentiated analysis of employment uncertainty in studies on the relationship between employment and fertility. They show that there is no uniform effect of employment uncertainty on childbearing intentions and outcomes, but that the impact varies by gender and education.

Authors

• Doris Hanappi, University of Lausanne

• Valérie-Anne Ryser, University of Lausanne

• Laura Bernardi, University of Lausanne

• Jean-Marie Le Goff, University of Lausanne