Do Stepmothers Pay a Wage Penalty?

Abstract

There is an abundance of research on the motherhood wage penalty, but few studies have looked at stepmotherhood and its association with women’s work hours, labor market experience, and wages. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979–2016) this study presents results of descriptive statistics and fixed effects regressions. We find that married residential stepmotherhood is a relatively transitory experience. Further, the transition to parenthood was associated with a reduction in all women’s time at work, but was smaller for stepmothers and larger for biological mothers. Compared to married biological mothers, residential stepmothers spent more time at work, accumulated more labor market experience, and did not pay a motherhood wage penalty. These results broaden our understanding of how different pathways to motherhood may impact the nature of women’s relationships with their children, and in turn, other aspects of women’s lives including women’s work–family experiences.