Mothers’ Long-Term Employment Patterns

• In Event: 088 - Regular Session. Family, Work, and Careers

Abstract

Previous research on maternal employment has disproportionately focused on the experiences of married, college-educated mothers and examined either current employment status or return to work immediately following a birth. Drawing on the life course perspective, we instead conceptualize maternal careers as long-term life course patterns. Using data from the NLSY79 and optimal matching, we document five common employment patterns of American mothers over the first 18 years of maternity. About 60% experience either steady, full-time employment (41%) or steady nonemployment (20%). The rest experience “mixed” patterns: long-term part-time employment (14%), or a long period of nonemployment following maternity, then a return to employment approximately 6 (15%) or 12 (10%) years following the first birth. We find that consistent employment following maternity, either full-time or part-time, is characteristic of women with more economic advantages, while women who experience low levels of employment disproportionately lack a high school degree and are more likely to be Hispanic. Consistent part-time labor is distinctive to white women: Hispanic and African American women are underrepresented in this group compared to either consistent full-time employment or long-term nonemployment. Furthermore, race is one of the only predictors of whether a mother is employed consistently full-time versus part-time. Our results support the importance of studying maternal employment across the economic spectrum, considering motherhood as a long-term characteristic, and moving away from research approaches that consider employment as a binary or continuous measure and overlook the qualitative distinctness of particular employment patterns.

Authors

• Alexandra A. Killewald, Harvard University

• Xiaolin Zhuo, Harvard University