Female work experience, employment status, and birth expectations: Sequential decision-making in the Philippines

The influence of women’s birth parity and accumulated market skills on their current labor force participation and birth expectations is examined within a sequential choice framework, Analysis of household data from the 1973 Philippines National Demographic Survey suggests these patterns: (a) women who have accumulated larger families work less in the current period and anticipate fewer additional births; (b) women with more past work experience tend to work more hours in the current period; and (c) work experience appears to have only a weak negative effect on birth expectations among older women.