Fertility, Mobility and Labour-Force Participation: A Study of Synchronicity

Delayed childbearing is common in a workforce that is now dominated by dual-income households, and survey results report increasing concerns about how to manage family formation and labour-force participation. In the past, mobility research tended to focus on the mobility event and looked at fertility as a 'triggering' event that stimulates mobility and migration. In contrast this research focuses on the fertility event and explores the relationship between fertility events and both mobility and labour-force outcomes. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we undertake an analysis of 'windows' around fertility events and look for mobility activity, and for a smaller subsample, labour-force events. Then we also examine 'windows' around mobility events to test competing explanations for fertility behaviour and mobility behaviour. The research moves beyond parental status and the links to mobility and labour-force participation to the actual synchronicity of these behaviours. While it is no surprise that women do drop out of the labour force to have children, many fewer actually leave the labour force than expected and they re-enter at significantly high rates. The results for mobility are even more mixed, and while there is some evidence of increased mobility with fertility, it is much weaker than suggested by other research. Overall, this research reaffirms an emerging view of mobility and migration behaviour as much more complex than earlier research presented. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.