Perceptions of job instability and the prospects of parenthood. A comparison between Eastern and Western Germany

Abstract

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic determinants of fertility behavior by addressing the role of job insecurity in couples' intentions concerning parenthood and its timing. It starts from the hypothesis that cultural values moderate individuals' reactions to job insecurity and the way in which it is related to family formation. With a systematic thematic content analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews with childless men and women around the age of thirty in eastern and western Germany, we are able to show that there are substantial differences in the consequences that job insecurity has on intentions to have a first child. These differences are mainly due to different expectations about the interaction between work and family careers and differences in the way in which priorities within a life course perspective are defined. In western Germany, a relatively secure job career is expected to precede family formation and this sequence of transitions is rather rigid, whereas in eastern Germany job security and family formation are thought of and practiced as parallel investments. We suggest that the lack of convergence in family formation patterns between eastern and western Germany after the unification of the country in 1990 is partially related to different attitudes towards job insecurity in the two contexts.

Family Policy in Germany: Is the Romanticized Idealization of the Male Breadwinner Losing its Relevance?

“…Among the less educated and disadvantaged, having kids early in life is more common in the East than in the West. Unlike East Germans, who see their careers as parallel to other life paths, most West Germans perceive job security as a foundation and prerequisite for family formation in a sequential pattern (Bernardi et al 2006). Furthermore, the average age at the birth of the first child is significantly higher for the better educated versus the less well educated.…”