Open AccessFertility Trends by Educational and Employment Gap between Partners: It’s All the Same?
Author(s) -
Xiana Bueno,
Joan García Román
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
perspectives demogràfiques
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2696-4228
DOI - 10.46710/ced.pd.eng.21
Subject(s) - workforce , fertility , position (finance) , demographic economics , work (physics) , population , gender gap , psychology , labour economics , sociology , demography , economics , economic growth , mechanical engineering , finance , engineering
The position of women in society has changed and, with that, the composition of couples. In most societies of the developed world, women’s presence in the workforce has increased, and they now have a better level of education, which is higher than that observed for the male population. As a result, there is a generalised presence of couples in which both partners work, and also more in which the woman is the only employed partner. In this issue of Perspectives Demogràfiques we explore the question of how educational and employment differences between spouses affects the fertility of couples in Spain. The results indicate that the best positioned couples (with a good education, both working, and with job stability) are those most likely to achieve the “pigeon pair”. When there are differences between the spouses, we observe that, rather than education, the main factor is job stability. Hence, it is the couples where the woman has a better job than the man, and not vice versa, that more easily decide to increase the family.