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Research Article
Open Access

The Opt-Out Continuation: Education, Work, and Motherhood from 1984 to 2012

Tanya Byker
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences August 2016, 2 (4) 34-70; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.4.02
Tanya Byker
aAssistant professor of economics at Middlebury College
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Abstract

Debate about an increasing trend in highly educated women dropping out of the labor force to care for children—an opt-out revolution—has been considerable. I use unique features of the of Survey of Income and Program Participation—a large nationally representative sample, longitudinal structure, monthly labor-force outcomes, and repeated panels—to study trends in women's birth-related career interruptions over time and across the education spectrum. Methodologically, I use event studies to compare women's monthly labor-force outcomes on the extensive and intensive margins from twenty-four months before to twenty-four months after births in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Rather than an abrupt change in opting out, I find that the pattern of birth-related interruptions has changed surprisingly little over the past thirty years—substantial and sustained interruptions remain common for mothers in all education categories. Rather than a revolution, I find an opt-out continuation.

  • opting out
  • maternal labor supply
  • labor-force participation
  • gender gap
  • Copyright © 2016 by Russell Sage Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reproduction by the United States Government in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose. The author is grateful to Martha Bailey, Charlie Brown, Mary Corcoran, Robert Garlick, Andrew Goodman-Bacon, Brad Hershbein, David Lam, Matt Rutledge, Jeff Smith, and Pamela Smock for helpful comments and guidance. This research was supported in part by an NICHD training grant to the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan (T32 HD007339). Direct correspondence to: Tanya Byker at tbyker{at}middlebury.edu, Department of Economics, Middlebury College, Warner Hall, 303 College St., Middlebury, VT 05753.

Open Access Policy: RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is an open access journal. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 2 (4)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 2, Issue 4
1 Aug 2016
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The Opt-Out Continuation: Education, Work, and Motherhood from 1984 to 2012
Tanya Byker
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Aug 2016, 2 (4) 34-70; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.4.02

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The Opt-Out Continuation: Education, Work, and Motherhood from 1984 to 2012
Tanya Byker
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Aug 2016, 2 (4) 34-70; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2016.2.4.02
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • A DYNAMIC MEASURE ADDRESSES OPEN QUESTIONS ABOUT OPTING OUT
    • EVENT STUDY METHODOLOGY TO MEASURE OPTING OUT IN LONGITUDINAL DATA, 1984–2012
    • RESULTS: THE OPT-OUT CONTINUATION
    • CONCLUSION
    • Acknowledgments
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Keywords

  • opting out
  • maternal labor supply
  • labor-force participation
  • gender gap

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