Womens labor force participation before and after their first birth: the effect of occupational characteristics and work commitment.

Much of the research on occupational sex-segregation suggests that some occupations are especially compatible with family responsibilities and hence women tend to be concentrated in these occupations. This paper tests this reasoning by relating sex-composition of a womans occupation prior to the birth of her 1st child to her labor force participation during pregnancy and following the birth. Additionally the authors propose hypotheses about other occupational and individual characteristics that affect womens labor force behavior surrounding the 1st birth by either raising the cost staying away from work or by facilitating combining work with motherhood. Based on labor force participation data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and occupational data from Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Current Population Surveys the results show little effect of occupational sex-composition on womens labor force participation. However occupational characteristics which raise the cost of labor force withdrawal (high education wages and job-specific training) decrease the probability of womens labor force withdrawal as do nonmonetary occupational characteristics such as presence of other mothers in the occupation and availability of a flexible work schedule. These effects depend on womens work commitment. All women are affected by the cost of labor force withdrawal but additionally women with low work commitment are also influenced by financial pressures and convenience of the work setting. (authors)