Last updated September 2009
Authors:
Maria Porter; Elizabeth King
Abstract:
This study focuses on the relationship between fertility outcomes and women’s labor market behavior. As fertility declines around the world, childbearing patterns change in three ways: women may delay their first birth, space their births, or stop having children at an earlier ager than previous cohorts. Indeed, the pattern of fertility change differs considerably around the world. Each of these changes is likely to have a different impact on the ability of women to work outside the home and on the decisions they make regarding work and child bearing.
Using the Demographic and Health Surveys, we adopt the framework used by Rosenzweig and Wolpin (1980) for their study on the U.S. to examine women in developing countries who primarily work in agriculture or are self-employed. In contrast to what was found in the U.S., we find evidence that women in developing countries who are over 25 and have had a multiple birth in the first birth were not less likely to participate in the labor force. Moreover, the pattern of the effect on women’s labor supply in different stages of the life-cycle is quite different between the U.S. and the developing world. Women under age 25 or over age 35 are less likely to work all year round when the first birth is a twin, but women between 25 and 34 are more likely to work all year round.
Contact Information: