Do Stepmothers Pay a Wage Penalty?

• In Event: 2266 - Family Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 21. Wage Penalties, Premiums, and Work Outcomes

Abstract

There is an abundance of research on the motherhood wage penalty, but few, if any, studies have analyzed differences between biological mothers and stepmothers. The current study examines data from the 1979 to 2014 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and follows women as they move from young adulthood to middle age. In line with previous research, we find that women who have biological children experience a substantial decrease in their weekly work hours and their cumulative labor market experience. Women who become stepmothers do not experience as much of a change in their labor supply. Moreover, stepmothers do not pay a wage penalty, whereas women with biological children and women with both biological children and stepchildren (dual mothers) do. Finally, our results show that not only do stepmothers remain more strongly attached to the labor market than biological mothers, but their earnings are also less sensitive to their husband’s earnings. In contrast, married biological mothers make greater trade-offs with their husbands. As married biological mothers’ husband’s earnings increase, the wage penalty for married biological mothers also increases. Married stepmothers do not make this same trade-off, and their wages are less sensitive to their husband’s earnings. These results broaden our understanding of the range of women’s work-family experiences.

Authors

• Rebecca Glauber, University of New Hampshire

• Melissa D. Day, University of New Hampshire