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Labor Market Penalties for Mothers in Italy

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  • Lia Pacelli
  • Silvia Pasqua
  • Claudia Villosio

Abstract

We use a large Italian employer-employee matched dataset to study how motherhood affects women’s working career in terms of labor force participation and wages. We confirm that the probability of exiting employment significantly increases for mothers of pre-school children; however, this is mitigated by higher job quality, human capital endowment and childcare accessibility. Most importantly, the availability of part-time jobs reduces their probability of moving out of the labor force. Women not leaving employment after becoming mothers experience lower wages than women with no pre-school child, and there are no signs of this gap closing 5 years after childbirth. Contrary to previous literature, the wage gap penalty emerges only among women working full-time, thanks to the high protection accorded to part-time jobs in Italy. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

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  • Lia Pacelli & Silvia Pasqua & Claudia Villosio, 2013. "Labor Market Penalties for Mothers in Italy," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 408-432, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:34:y:2013:i:4:p:408-432
    DOI: 10.1007/s12122-013-9165-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Struffolino, Emanuela & Raitano, Michele, 2020. "Early-career complexity before and after labour-market deregulation in Italy: Heterogeneity by gender and socio-economic status across cohorts," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 151(1), pages 231-257.
    2. Fiaschi, Davide & Tealdi, Cristina, 2023. "The attachment of adult women to the Italian labour market in the shadow of COVID-19," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Devicienti, Francesco & Grinza, Elena & Vannoni, Davide, 2020. "Why do firms (dis)like part-time contracts?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Giulia Bettin & Isabella Giorgetti & Stefano Staffolani, 2024. "The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the gender gap in the Italian labour market," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-33, March.
    5. Struffolino, Emanuela & Borgna, Camilla, 2021. "Who is really ‘left behind’? Half a century of gender differences in the school-to-work transitions of low-educated youth," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 162-185.
    6. Matteo Picchio & Claudia Pigini & Stefano Staffolani & Alina Verashchagina, 2021. "If not now, when? The timing of childbirth and labor market outcomes," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(6), pages 663-685, September.
    7. Sergio Destefanis & Fernanda Mazzotta & Lavinia Parisi, 2024. "Goldin’s Last Chapter on the Gender Pay Gap: An Exploratory Analysis Using Italian Data," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 549-572, April.
    8. Debora Di Gioacchino & Emanuela Ghignoni & Alina Verashchagina, 2019. "Le scelte di fertilit? e la durata della maternit? in Italia: vincoli economici e norme sociali," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(110), pages 93-110.
    9. Tindara Addabbo, 2017. "Work and public policies: the interweaving of feminist economics and the capability approach," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 91(01), pages 76-99.
    10. Alessandra Casarico & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2023. "Behind the child penalty: understanding what contributes to the labour market costs of motherhood," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1489-1511, July.
    11. Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta & Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera & Francesco Pastore, 2022. "The Effect of Job–Education Vertical Mismatch on Wages Among Recent PhD Graduates: Evidence From an Instrumental Variable Analysis," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 8(1), pages 197-225, March.
    12. Luca Zanin & Raffaella Calabrese, 2017. "Interaction effects of region-level GDP per capita and age on labour market transition rates in Italy," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-29, December.
    13. Angelo Lorenti & Jessica Nisén & Letizia Mencarini & Mikko Myrskylä, 2023. "Gendered parenthood-employment gaps in midlife: a demographic perspective across three different welfare systems," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-013, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    14. Lorenti, Angelo & Jessica, Nisen & Mencarini, Letizia & Myrskylä, Mikko, 2023. "Gendered parenthood-employment gaps in midlife: a demographic perspective across three different welfare systems," SocArXiv gmqd9, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Motherhood; Part-time jobs; Wage penalty; Working career; Reconciliation policies; J13; J31;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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