Auswirkungen von Kindererziehung auf Erwerbsbiografien und Alterseinkommen von Frauen

The article examines the situation of women in taking time out from employment for periods of child care, re-entry into the labour market and how this is arranged, as well as analysing the implications for their old-age incomes. The analysis of biographical patterns shows distinct differences in the duration of child care periods and working hours following these interruptions. For women in west Germany long interruptions and part-time work dominate, whereas women in east Germany generally re-enter the labour market on a full-time basis relatively quickly, although younger women in the east re-enter somewhat later. In west Germany, the amount of part-time work and marginal employment increases within the younger cohorts. The close relationship between labour participation, working hours and personal old-age incomes leads to different levels of old-age provision. The differences almost cease to exist though when the partners’ old-age incomes are taken into account. However, the risk of low old-age incomes in the context of married partners also increases at the household level, if the wife follows a path of only marginal labour-market integration. The cohort trend of individual as well as household old-age incomes is much more positive for women who choose to re-enter the labour market on a full-time basis than for the part-timers.