Having a child? Here is the bill - Parenthood, Earnings and Careers in an Internal Labor

Résumé 0

Using a unique 12-years panel of personnel records from a large French company, we findthat becoming mother (extensive fertility margins) largely affects labor market outcomes.Instead, fatherhood does not significantly impact on men's wages or careers. An event studyapproach with the use of non-parents as control group enables us to show that, prior tochildbirth, future mothers' earnings are in line with that of non-mothers. However, one yearafter birth, they start to fall, reaching -9% in total pay and -30% in individual bonuses.This drop is persistent: 8 years after childbirth there is no evidence of a catching-up trend.Mothers also have lower chances to climb-up the hierarchy of the firm and be promoted tomanagerial positions. A decomposition of the motherhood penalty shows that these \missedpromotions", likely due to an increase in absenteeism during the child's pre-school age, arethe main determinants of mothers' lower outcomes within the firm.