Maternity leave in turbulent times: effects on labor market transitions and fertility in Russia, 1985-2000
Maternity leave in turbulent times: effects on labor market transitions and fertility in Russia, 1985-2000
Maternity leave policies are designed to ease the tension between women's employment and fertility, but whether they actually play such a role remains unclear. We analyze the individual-level effects of maternity leave on employment outcomes and on second conception rates among Russian first-time mothers from 1985-2000 using retrospective job and fertility histories from the Survey of Stratification and Migration Dynamics in Russia. During this period Russia experienced tremendous economic and political turbulence, which many observers believed would undermine policies like maternity leave and otherwise adversely affect the situation of women. Nevertheless, we find that maternity leave helped women maintain a foothold in the labor market, even during the more turbulent post-transition period. Also, women who took extended leave (6-36 months) in connection with a first birth had elevated rates of second conceptions after they returned to the workforce.
1297-1322
Gerber, Theodore P.
cec27cc9-05e9-41b0-ba5c-e0273cea6900
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
June 2012
Gerber, Theodore P.
cec27cc9-05e9-41b0-ba5c-e0273cea6900
Perelli-Harris, Brienna
9d3d6b25-d710-480b-8677-534d58ebe9ed
Gerber, Theodore P. and Perelli-Harris, Brienna
(2012)
Maternity leave in turbulent times: effects on labor market transitions and fertility in Russia, 1985-2000.
Social Forces, 90 (4), .
(doi:10.1093/sf/sor043).
Abstract
Maternity leave policies are designed to ease the tension between women's employment and fertility, but whether they actually play such a role remains unclear. We analyze the individual-level effects of maternity leave on employment outcomes and on second conception rates among Russian first-time mothers from 1985-2000 using retrospective job and fertility histories from the Survey of Stratification and Migration Dynamics in Russia. During this period Russia experienced tremendous economic and political turbulence, which many observers believed would undermine policies like maternity leave and otherwise adversely affect the situation of women. Nevertheless, we find that maternity leave helped women maintain a foothold in the labor market, even during the more turbulent post-transition period. Also, women who took extended leave (6-36 months) in connection with a first birth had elevated rates of second conceptions after they returned to the workforce.
Text
mat_leave_paper_SF.doc
- Author's Original
Restricted to Registered users only
Request a copy
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 June 2012
Published date: June 2012
Organisations:
Social Statistics & Demography
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 337011
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/337011
ISSN: 0037-7732
PURE UUID: 2749fe69-e6ed-4909-86c4-82cf0a8dd3c0
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 16 Apr 2012 09:31
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Theodore P. Gerber
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
