Task content of jobs and mothers’ employment transitions in Germany

I study the association between task content of jobs and mothers’ employment transitions after the first birth in Germany. I construct measures of task content of jobs using data from the Employment Survey conducted by the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB). These indicators illustrate the career cost of children and how it is impacted by the technology- and globalization-driven labour market change. The measures are then linked to high-quality individual register data from the German Pension Fund (FDZ-RV) covering the years 2012–2020. Utilizing competing risk models, I show that women engaged in occupations with analytic and interactive task content, which are in high demand and incompatible with maternity-related employment breaks, are the most likely to transition to employment after their first birth. Conversely, women with occupations intense in routine tasks, which are more susceptible to automation or trade competition, are more likely to experience unemployment.