Older Babies - More Active Mothers? How Maternal Labor Supply Changes as the Child Grows

Abstract

Female labor market activity is dependent on the presence and the age of a child, but how do the determinants develop in magnitude and significance with the child's age? Using German SOEP data from 1991 to 2006 for mothers with young children, the change in maternal labor supply when the child is one, two, and three years old is explicitly addressed. According to the tobit regression results for precise working hours, maternal labor supply becomes increasingly responsive to economic incentives - mainly to imputed wages - as the child grows.

Keywords: Female labor supply, childbirth, parental leave

JEL Classification: J13, J22, D13