Special Collection 3 - Article 8 | Pages 177–212  

Women’s Labor Force Attachment and Childbearing in Finland

By Andres Vikat

This article is part of the Special Collection 3 „Contemporary Research on European Fertility: Perspectives and Developments“

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of women’s economic activity, earnings and take-up of child home care allowance on childbearing, using a ten percent sample from a longitudinal register data set that covers the entire female population of reproductive age in Finland in 1988-2000. Results show that a woman’s economic activity and income were positively correlated with entry into motherhood and to a lesser extent with having a second child. This supports the notion of a common pattern of this relationship in the Nordic countries. In the light of Finland’s rollercoaster economic development in the 1990s, the effects of a change in female population composition by economic characteristics on the fertility trend were small.

Author’s Affiliation

• Andres Vikat - United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Switzerland EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Cohort fertility patterns in the Nordic countries
Volume 20 - Article 14

Fertility differences by housing type: The effect of housing conditions or of selective moves?
Volume 17 - Article 26

Generations and Gender Survey (GGS): Towards a better understanding of relationships and processes in the life course
Volume 17 - Article 14

Understanding parental gender preferences in advanced societies: Lessons from Sweden and Finland
Volume 17 - Article 6

Pathways to stepfamily formation in Europe: Results from the FFS
Volume 8 - Article 5

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Harmonised fertility histories in four British longitudinal cohort studies
Volume 54 - Article 18    | Keywords: cohort studies, fertility, harmonised data, United Kingdom

A flexible model for reconstructing education-specific fertility rates: The case of sub-Saharan Africa
Volume 54 - Article 12    | Keywords: Bayesian demography, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), education, fertility, fertility rates, sub-Saharan Africa

Learning and reproductive health: Do early cognitive skills contribute to better sexual and reproductive health outcomes among adolescents in Ethiopia?
Volume 54 - Article 7    | Keywords: adolescence, education, education, Ethiopia, fertility, sub-Saharan Africa

Shifting spousal age gaps in Kenya and Ghana: Does education matter?
Volume 53 - Article 41    | Keywords: age gap, education, gender dynamics, Ghana, Kenya, spousal age difference

Educational outcomes in stepfamilies: A comparative analysis of cohabitation and remarriage
Volume 53 - Article 34    | Keywords: cohabitation, comparative analysis, education, remarriage, stepfamily