Examining the Impact of Early Childbearing on Labor Outcomes in Brazil

Abstract

We examined the labor-market participation, participation in formal jobs, and earnings of women who bore a child during their adolescent years. A woman’s decision to bear a child is influenced by such factors as her motivation and her own assessment of her productivity and labor-market returns, factors that also affect her labor outcome. Aware of the endogeneity of childbearing, we used Brazilian National Health Survey data (2013) to examine such instruments as age at menarche and miscarriage. Our results showed an increase of nine to eleven percentage points in labor participation as a result of early pregnancy and a decrease of twelve percentage points in participation in formal jobs. In low-income families, women enter the labor force to support their children and maintain family income, though they tend to select into more flexible, low-skilled, informal jobs. One of the mechanisms through which teenage pregnancy affects labor participation and earnings was education. Early pregnancy decreased women’s education by 1.3 years, and we observed a negative impact of early pregnancy on earnings of close to 28%. We analyzed impacts for different racial groups, income, and region of residence.