The document analyzes the length of career interruptions among Finnish mothers between 1987-2012. It finds that those with fewer socioeconomic resources tend to have longer interruptions, while higher education, earnings, and previous employment increase the likelihood of returning to work sooner. Younger mothers who only have one child during their interruption also return to work faster than those who have additional children or are older. The socioeconomic factors have a weaker impact on returning to work for mothers who have more children. The study concludes that policies should encourage mothers to return to work earlier to narrow socioeconomic gaps.

1. The antecedents of
employment breaks after
childbearing
among Finnish mothers in 1987 - 2012
Katja Pohjola
Marika Jalovaara
University of Turku
Tackling Inequalities
in Time of Austerity
EPC 2016, Mainz Germany

2. Maternal Employment Rate
OECD 2011

3.  The maternal employment rate with children
younger than 3 years old is still very low (approx.
50%) (OECD, 2014)
 During the recent years only 10 % of women
worked part-time and only few of those were
actually caring for children (Statistics of Finland,
2015)
 Cash-for-Childcare –subsidy vs. Daddy quota
In Finland

4.  The micro-economic theory which explains a
parent’s decisions by the rational need to maximize
the expected utility
 The opportunity cost for taking time out of labor
force and the wealth effect of other family income
 a positive effect of the wage; the higher the wage the more
likely it is that the parent chooses to do paid work instead
of unpaid care work (Borjas, 2010/Becker, 1960)
Theoretical framework

5. How is the length of the career interruption
influenced by
 the socioeconomic resources of the mother,
 the timing of the motherhood, and
 possible partner’s socioeconomic resources?
Research Questions

6. 1. The socioeconomic hypothesis
= Those with a low socioeconomic status are more
likely to have a longer career interruption (includes also
the resources of possible partner)
2. The timing of motherhood hypothesis
= both early and late childbearing are special cases
Hypothesis

7.  Statistics Finland linked data from a longitudinal
population register and registers of employment,
educational qualifications, vital events, and other
register sources
 11% random sample of persons born between
1940 and 1995
 Mothers matched with their children and possible
partners
 Yearly data from 1987 to 2012
Data

8.  Two groups of first-time mothers:
Group 1: those who enter employment after having one child
(N = 28 818, 𝑡 = 2.0)
Group 2: those who have a second child during the
interruption (N = 15 058, 𝑡 = 5.8)
 childbirth years from 1989 to 2007
 The outcome event: mother’s entry to employment after
childbirth
 “employment status during the last week of a year
 “amount of child care allowances during a year”
 Duration variable t is measured in years
 Kapplan-Meier survival estimates
 Average marginal effects
Discrete Event History Analysis

9. Descriptives
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
Kaplan-Meier survival estimate

10.  Dependent variable: Risk to enter employment
 Independent variables:
 Educational attainment at the age of 30
 Age at childbirth
 Previous employment
 Earnings
 Earnings of a possible partner
 Control variables:
 Year of the childbirth
 Age of the first child
Variables

11.  Average marginal effects
 Every independent variable separately as
unadjusted and adjusted
 Both groups of mothers separately
 Group 1 = Those who enter employment after one
child
 Group 2 = Those who enter employment after second
child (or more) is born
Results

13. 0 yrs
1 yr
-.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1 -.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1
Group 1 Group 2
unadjusted adjusted
ref. 2 years
AME of Previous employment

14. 0 - 10 000 e
10 000 - 20 000 e
20 000 - 30 000 e
-.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1 -.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1
Group 1 Group 2
unadjusted adjusted
ref. > 30 000 e
AME of Earnings before childbirth

15. No partner
0 - 20 000 e
20 000 - 40 000 e
-.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1 -.3 -.2 -.1 0 .1
Group 1 Group 2
unadjusted adjusted
ref. > 40 000 e
AME of Earnings of a possible partner

16. < 25
30 - 34
35 -
-.15 -.1 -.05 0 .05 -.15 -.1 -.05 0 .05
Group 1 Group 2
unadjusted adjusted
ref. 25 - 29
AME of the age of the mother

17. The effects of the socioeconomic resources are
positive for all the mothers; high education, high
earnings, and previous employment increase the risk
to enter employment.
The effects of having a partner and partner’s
earnings are less linear and weaker.
Conclusion 1

18. Women who have a delayed motherhood have lower
risk to enter employment than younger mothers if
they have only one child during the interruption.
However, for those mothers who have more children
during the interruption, the risk is smallest for the
youngest group of mothers.
Conclusion 2

19. The effects of the different socioeconomic factors are
weaker for those who have more than 1 child during
the first career interruption. Mothers with more
children have higher opportunity cost and the risk to
enter employment is smaller.
Conclusion 3

20. There are great differences in the length of the career
interruption and how the socioeconomic factors affect
the risk to enter employment.
Those who have less to loose, in the socioeconomic
sense, stay home longer while the socioeconomic
gap increases even more.
Social policies should more actively narrow the gap,
and the family allowances should be modified to
encourage the mothers to enter employment sooner
than later.
Final words

21. Consortium partners of TITA project:
Thank You! kalahti@utu.fi

22. Descriptives
Group 1
 N = 28 818
 Average break duration =
2.0 (sd = 1.6)
Group 2
 N = 15 058
 Average break duration =
5.8 (sd = 2.9)


23. KM
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
1 child 2 children
3 children 4 children
Number of children born during the break
0.000.250.500.751.00 0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
Basic educ Vocational
Gymnasium Lower tertiary
Higher tertiary
Educational attainment at the age of 30
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
< 25 25 - 29
30 - 34 35 -
Age of the mother
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
0 years 1 year
2 years
Previous employment
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
0 - 10 000 e 10 000 - 20 000 e
20 000 - 30 000 e > 30 000 e
Previous earnings
0.000.250.500.751.00
0 2 4 6 8
Years since first birth
no partner 0 - 20 000 e
20 000 - 40 000 e > 40 000 e
Earnings of the partner

24. Total who gave
birth
Returned
within 2 years
Had not yet
returned
Total 28 818 20 957 7 861
100 % 72,7 % 27,3 %
Human capital and job characteristics
Average age at first birth 28,3 28,6 27,5
Tertiary level of education 45,7 % 51,8 % 28,5 %
Median earnings 21 200e 22 900e 15 300e
Previous employment (2 years) 70,2 % 77,4 % 50,7 %
Family characteristics
Partner present 82,8 % 87,7 % 69,8 %
Partner with tertiary level of
educ
36,7 % 39,4 % 27,7 %
Partner's median earnings (if
present) 30 400e 30 700e 29 400e
Those who do not enter employment
have less to loose