Originally posted by sasguru
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It is clear that labour market conditions do affect when people have children and how many they have. But this simple answer hides a dramatic change in the effect of labour markets on childbearing in the past 25 years. In the past, fertility rates were higher in those OECD countries where most women remained outside the paid labour market. Today, the reverse is the case: fertility rates are higher in those countries where women’s employment rates are higher. The type of work is also important. Birth rates are higher in countries where a larger share of women work part-time – suggesting that these jobs often provide women with an effective means to reconcile work and family responsibilities. For society as a whole, paid work and childbearing no longer substitute for each other. It remains true that women who have a paid job have fewer children than women who do not, but the extent to which this occurs has declined over time.
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