Publication Date
2-10-2025
Series
Upjohn Institute working paper ; 25-412
DOI
10.17848/wp25-412
Abstract
We document the dynamics of career paths around parenthood, capturing worker advancement within firms and across firms with differing pay rates. Using a new linkage between administrative data on U.S. workers’ fertility and labor market histories, we show that the parental earnings gap is partly explained by mothers transitioning to lower-paying firms. Firm downgrading is driven by parents who take an extended absence from the labor force. Mothers who move to lower-paying firms see improved job amenities but less generous fringe benefits. The firm’s contribution to the parental earnings gap rises over time and reaches one-third by the child’s 11th birthday.
Issue Date
January 2025
Note
Upjohn project #58160
Sponsorship
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research Early Career Research Award No. 21-58160-14, Russell Sage Foundation, University of Nebraska Layman Fund, National Science Foundation Grants SES-9978093, SES-0339191 and itr-0427889, National Institute on Aging Grant AG018854, and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Subject Areas
LABOR MARKET ISSUES; Wages, health insurance and other benefits; Health insurance; Inequality; Minimum wage; Nonwage benefits; Work and family balance; Unemployment insurance
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Citation
Jack, Rebecca, Daniel Tannenbaum, and Brenden Timpe. 2025. "The Parenthood Gap: Firms and Earnings Inequality after Kids." Upjohn Institute Working Paper 25-412. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. https://doi.org/10.17848/wp25-412
