The timing of childbirth and the child wage-penalty in Japan

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of timing of first childbirth on the child wage-penalty experienced by working mothers in Japan. There is an increasing age of first childbirth and increasing labor force participation rate of Japanese women: does it indicate that the presence of children causes women to pay a high price for motherhood? Design/methodology/approach This study estimates regression equations explaining the labor wages of working women, using a longitudinal data set from the Japan Household Panel Survey (the JHPS/KHPS 2004–2015). The fixed-effect method is utilized to control the bias that results from unobserved individual-specific characteristics. Findings The results indicate that having children negatively affects the wages of Japanese women. However, there is no variation in the child wage-penalty between early child bearers (age 27 years or younger) and late child bearers (older than 27 years). In addition, an additional year of post-birth work experience contributes equally to an additional year of pre-birth work experience on wage gains. These findings remain robust with an alternate cut-off age of 30-years old. Originality/value There is no previous study that relates the timing of the first birth to the motherhood wage-penalty in Japan. This study indicates that the timing of childbirth does not seem to be an important factor in the improvement of women’s labor wages. Thus, delaying childbirth may not be an optimal birth timing to maximize the lifetime earnings of Japanese women, especially for those who are career-minded.

The effect of fertility timing on women’s earnings at midlife in the UK

“…When estimating effects of motherhood timing on earnings, some studies do not control for work-related human capital, given that it represents a mechanism of the estimated effect (Cantalini et al, 2017;Herr, 2016;Leung et al, 2016;Rosenbaum, 2021). In turn, other studies focus on effects net of differences in available measures of work experience (Amuedo-Dorantes & Kimmel, 2005;Dumauli, 2019;Karimi, 2014;Kind & Kleibrink, 2012;Putz & Engelhardt, 2014;Taniguchi, 1999;Wilde et al, 2010). The few studies paying attention to work history as a mediator tend to conclude that measures of education and work experience together (with varying other controls) explain a significant share of the observed differences in wages between women with different fertility timing in the US (Blackburn et al, 1993;Buckles, 2008;Chandler et al, 1994).…”

“…A recent study by Rosenbaum (2021) covered effects of early (below age 25) motherhood until age 40 with full-population data. Studies applying fixed effects models to shed light on the role of timing have often captured higher ages better, but are often based on rather small samples with a wide age range (see, for instance, Dumauli, 2019). Mean age was below 40 also in a number of other relevant studies (Amuedo-Dorantes & Kimmel, 2005; Kind & Kleibrink, 2012;Putz & Engelhardt, 2014;Taniguchi, 1999).…”

“…However, the lower strength of such instruments has been at time considered a limitation (Bratti, 2015;Wilde et al, 2010). A common alternative approach has been the use of fixed effects models, (Amuedo-Dorantes & Kimmel, 2005;Buckles, 2008;Cantalini et al, 2017;Dumauli, 2019;Putz & Engelhardt, 2014;Taniguchi, 1999), which essentially compare the change in earnings following motherhood between groups of women who had a first birth at different ages, but who therefore may differ also in other respects. This study aims to overcome the methodological challenge of finding exogenous variation in first birth timing by exploring several analytical approaches, both established and innovative.…”

“…Triangulating results from three approaches using different identifying assumptions allows us to draw more robust conclusions. Second, this study focuses on women's earnings at midlife, considering outcomes measured at the ages of 46 or 42 (for women whose earnings at age 46 were not reported), as compared to many previous studies on the effect of motherhood timing that measured short-to medium-term outcomes, shortly after the first birth or when the women were still in their 30s (Amuedo-Dorantes & Kimmel, 2005;Bratti & Cavalli, 2014;Miller, 2011;Nisén et al, 2019;Taniguchi, 1999), or estimated average effects based on broad age ranges (Dumauli, 2019;Kind & Kleibrink, 2012;Putz & Engelhardt, 2014;Taniguchi, 1999). Investigating the effects of fertility timing on earnings at midlife is of particular interest because there are indications that fertility timing may have long-lasting effects on women's labour market outcomes, including their earnings (Buckles, 2008;Frühwirth-Schnatter et al, 2016;Herr, 2016;Hofferth, 1984;Karimi, 2014;Picchio et al, 2021).…”

Impact of two-child policy on female employment and corporate performance: Empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2020

“…Based on employer discrimination theory, Weber and Zulehner (2014) found that companies with a stronger preference for men than the industry average, therefore, a lower proportion of female employees exhibit significantly lower survival rates, and industry competition accelerates the elimination rate of such biased firms. Dumauli (2019) analysed whether women pay a high price for motherhood, using data from the Japanese Family Group survey from 2004 to 2015 and found that childbearing negatively affects Japanese women's wages.…”