Ethnic Differences in Labour Market Adaptations among Mothers of Children with Intensified Care Needs

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Race/Ethnicity, Health, and Work

Abstract

This article addresses labour market adaptations among mothers with children that have special health care needs, as these represent a case where the care burdens become particularly challenging to combine with paid work. Immigrant women have a weaker attachment to the labour market than native women, but there has been little research on how an intensified care burden might shape the labour market adaptations of the two groups of mothers differently. To analyse this question, we use longitudinal panel data from Norwegian public registers. The sample in the present study contains all women who gave birth in Norway in the period between 2001 and 2005 (N=108,706). For the mothers we have panel information for the period 1999-2009, as well as linked information about the child’s father in the same time-period. The results show large differences in labour market participation and income among immigrant and native mothers, and that these differences to some extent are explained by individual characteristics of the mothers, such as education and region of origin. Nonetheless, it seems that having a child with intensified care needs affect the two groups of mothers similarly. Both groups of mothers reduce their labour market participation significantly relative to otherwise similar mothers with healthy children. However, only native mothers with sick children have significantly elevated sickness absence over time, indicating that native mothers may be able to hold on to their labour market position despite having intensified care burden affecting their ability to work. We also find large differences among immigrant groups. Our analyses indicate that labour market vulnerability is particularly evident among more recent immigrants.

Authors

• Marjan Nadim, Institute for Social Research

• Liza Reisel, Institute for Social Research

• Idunn Brekke, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences