Pregnancy Planning and Motherhood Penalty: How Unintended Pregnancies Affect Women’s Labor Market Participation in Europe and Australia

Judith C. Koops, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)-KNAW/University Of Groningen

Increased access to family planning methods is believed to have contributed to the rise in women’s human capital accumulation over the past decades. However, in the U.S.A, this may primarily apply to the period before having children. A recent study has shown that after childbirth, women who intended their pregnancies had lower labor market outcomes compared to those with unintended pregnancies. This study aims to explore whether the same association exists beyond the U.S.A. Using longitudinal panel data from 14 countries, I examine the relationship between unintended pregnancies, labor market participation, and hours worked. Preliminary descriptive statistics on labor market participation reveal substantial differences across countries. In some, labor market participation declined more among women with intended pregnancies, which aligns with the findings from the U.S.A. However, in other countries, participation decreased more among women with unintended pregnancies, or few differences were observed. Further analysis will determine whether these results hold in regression models.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work, Gender Dynamics, Families, Unions and Households, Family Planning and Contraception

See extended abstract.