Full Citation

Title: The Opt-Out Continuation: Education, Work and Motherhood from 1984-2008

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2011

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: There has been considerable debate in the recent literature about whether there is an increasing trend in highly educated women dropping out of work to care for children an opt-out revolution. I use unique features of the of Survey of Income and Program Participation--a large nationally representative sample, longitudinal structure, monthly labor force outcomes, and repeated panels--to conduct a dynamic analysis of opting-out that is currently missing in the literature. I use three-year event studies to compare labor force outcomes of women who gave birth in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. I find substantial and sustained opting-out of mothers in all education categories over the last three decades. But is this a revolution? Three decades of behavior suggest that little has changed-it is an opt-out continuation. Given the substantial increases in women's college completion, the absence of change is just as puzzling and important.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Byker, Tanya

Conference Name: Population Association of America

Publisher Location: Washington, D.C.

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Education, Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: