Are All Single Mothers the Same? Evidence from British and West German Women’s Employment Trajectories

Is the effect of job uncertainty on fertility intentions channeled by subjective well-being?

Using data from a survey of German manufacturing firms, this paper empirically tests the hypothesis that investment in ICT enables product innovation at the firm level. The empirical approach employs a value-added model, which controls for time-invariant firm characteristics. We instrument with exogenous impulses that affect firms’ decision to invest in ICT to account for remaining endogeneity that arises due to the fact that firms may decide to innovate and invest in ICT simultaneously. In addition, we employ matching methods to corroborate the results. We find consistent evidence that ICT investment increases firms’ product innovations.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/108762/1/IfoWorkingPaper-195.pdf

ICT as an Enabler of Innovation. Evidence from German Microdata

Total birth rates have fallen dramatically in many European countries during the last 40 years. Job and income instability caused by labor market polarization are significant drivers of declining b...

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Job Instability and Fertility Intentions of Young Adults in Europe: Does Labor Market Legislation Matter?:

Using longitudinal data from Germany and Australia for the 2001‒2013 period, this study investigates the link between non-standard employment, such as fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work, part-time and casual work, and first birth within couple relationships. In contrast to previous studies, competing risks event history models are estimated to simultaneously consider couples’ risks of first birth and of partnership dissolution. The results indicate, for example, that temporary employment of the female partner, and especially temporary agency work, decreases first birth risks in both countries. This suggests that women, in their dual role as primary carer and secondary earner, seek a secure employment position to return to after parental leave. In contrast, male partner’s part-time work negatively affects the first birth risk and simultaneously increases the risk of partnership dissolution only in Australia, suggesting a more important role of men as primary earners in this country. Overall, the study highlights the twofold impact of non-standard employment on fertility, consisting of a direct influence on the first birth risk among stable couples and an indirect influence through the risk of partnership dissolution.

The Effects of Non-standard Employment on the Transition to Parenthood Within Couples: A Comparison of Germany and Australia.

We study the short-to medium-run effects on subsequent fertility of starting a career with a fixed-term contract. We focus on career start since we expect that temporary contracts and their inherent economic uncertainty imply a path dependence that might have spill-over effects on other domains of life. Our empirical analysis is based on rich data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which provides comprehensive information about individuals' labour market history as well as about their fertility. Our main results are the following. Women (i) tend to postpone first birth due to fixed-term employment at labour market entry and (ii) reduce the number of children in the first 10 years after graduation. These associations are strongest in the subsample of native women with at least vocational training. (iii) In contrast, we find no significant correlations for men. We argue that these findings are robust to potential endogeneity threats.

Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data

We study the short- to medium-run effects of starting a career on a fixed-term contract on subsequent fertility outcomes. We focus on the career start since we expect that temporary contracts and their inherent economic uncertainty imply a path dependency which might have spill-over effects on other domains of life. Our empirical analysis is based on rich data from the German Socio-Economic Panel which provides comprehensive information about individuals' labour market history as well as fertility behaviour. Our main results are: Women (i) tend to postpone their first birth due to fixed-term employment at labour market entry and (ii) reduce the number of children in the first 10 years after graduation. These associations are strongest in the subsample of native women with at least vocational training. (iii) In contrast, we find no significant correlations for men. We argue that these findings are robust to potential endogeneity threats.

Die Forderung institutionalisierter Kinderbetreuung durch die offentliche Hand ist eines der zentralen Elemente in der deutschen Familienpolitik der letzten 20 Jahre. Wahrend bereits zum 1. Januar 1996 ein Rechtsanspruch auf Tagesbetreuung fur Kinder ab dem vollendeten dritten Lebensjahr eingefuhrt wurde, ruckte in den letzten Jahren die Tagesbetreuung fur Kinder unter drei Jahren starker in den Vordergrund. Am 1. August 2013 wird ein Rechtsanspruch auf einen Betreuungsplatz fur alle Kinder vom vollendeten ersten bis zum vollendeten dritten Lebensjahr eingefuhrt. Auch im Bereich der Betreuung von Schulkindern gab es in den letzten Jahren Bewegung. So wurde im Rahmen des Investitionsprogramms »Zukunft Bildung und Betreuung« in den Jahren 2003 bis 2009 der Auf- und Ausbau von Ganztagesschulen durch Bund und Lander finanziell gefordert. Eine aktuelle Forschungsstudie des ifo Instituts, die die Auswirkungen von offentlich geforderter Kinderbetreuung fur Familien mit unter-dreijahrigen Kindern, mit drei- und sechsjahrigen Kindern und mit uber-sechsjahrigen Schulkindern untersucht hat, zeigt, dass sich die offentliche Kinderbetreuung positiv auf die Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung von Muttern auswirkt. Die Kosten einer staatlich geforderten Kinderbetreuung finanzieren sich dabei grostenteils selbst.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/165259/1/ifosd-v66-2013-i07-p31-40.pdf

Öffentlich geförderte Kinderbetreuung in Deutschland: Evaluierung der Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung von Müttern

In Germany, it has become conventional wisdom that the economic uncertainty associated fixed-term employment contracts prevents young couples from realizing their desire to have children. From a research perspective, it is however far from clear whether fixed-term contracts are the obstacle to family formation that the public a priori expect them to be. In this paper, we first develop a simple dynamic bargaining model that allows us to ask theoretically: under what conditions will couples choose to have children early on in life, postpone it to later in life, or decide to remain childless? And: to what extent does the economic uncertainty associated with holding fixed-term employment contract affect these choices? We obtain two theoretical predictions. On the one hand, job uncertainty at the beginning of women’s employment careers causes couples to postpone parenthood. On the other hand, job uncertainty in women’s mid-career lives causes couples to enter parenthood instead of remaining voluntarily childless. We bring these theoretical predictions to data from the German Socio-Economimc Panel (SOEP). Ordinary least squares and fixed-effects estimations show that, at the beginning of women’s employment careers, holding a fixed-term employment contract and the probability of entering parenthood are negatively correlated. When considering women in their mid-career lives, holding a fixed-term contract has a positive impact on the probability of entering parenthood.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/79894/1/VfS_2013_pid_890.pdf

Fixed-term Employment and Fertility: Theory and Evidence from German Micro Data

We study the short- to medium-run effects of starting a career on a fixed-term contract on subsequent fertility and health outcomes. We focus on the career start since we expect that temporary contracts and their inherent economic uncertainty imply a path dependence which might have spill-over effects on other domains of life. Our empirical analysis is based on rich data from the German Socio-Economic Panel which provides comprehensive information about individuals’ labour market history as well as fertility behaviour, and physical and mental health indicators. Our main results are that due to fixed-term employment at labour market entry women tend to: (i) postpone first births, (ii) have fewer children within ten years after graduation and (iii) have lower mental health status within three years after graduation. These associations are strongest in the subsample of native women with secondary education. In contrast, we find no significant correlations for men. We argue that these findings are robust to potential endogeneity threats.

Wolfgang Auer

Papers

Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data

Fixed-Term Employment and Fertility: Evidence from German Micro Data

Öffentlich geförderte Kinderbetreuung in Deutschland: Evaluierung der Auswirkungen auf die Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung von Müttern

Fixed-term Employment and Fertility: Theory and Evidence from German Micro Data

Uncertainty in the labour market: How does fixed-term employment affect fertility and mental health of the young generation?