Does delaying first birth help mothers' employment?

What is it about?

We investigate whether delaying the first birth significantly improves Italian mothers' labor market outcomes.

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Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash

Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is important as in many countries mothers suffer wage and employment penalties in the labor market, the so-called "motherhood gap", and postponing the first birth may be a strategy to significantly reduce it. Indeed, our estimates suggest that delaying the first birth by 1 year raises the likelihood of participating in the labor market by 1.2 percentage points and weekly working time by about half an hour.