Premium
Has the Price of Motherhood Declined Over Time? A Cross‐Cohort Comparison of the Motherhood Wage Penalty
Author(s) -
Avellar Sarah,
Smock Pamela J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00597.x
Subject(s) - national longitudinal surveys , human capital , wage , economics , cohort , demographic economics , psychology , longitudinal data , test (biology) , panel survey , labour economics , demography , sociology , medicine , economic growth , paleontology , biology
Several recent studies have shown a negative association between motherhood and wages. However, an analysis of change over time in the motherhood penalty has not been conducted. Using two cohorts of young women drawn from the 1975–1985 National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women and the 1986–1998 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we explicitly test the relationship between motherhood and wages across two cohorts and examine whether that relationship has changed. Even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and human capital variables, each additional child is associated with a negative effect on women's wages. Moreover, our findings suggest that the penalty has not diminished over time.