The Relationship between Fertility & Female Labor Market Outcomes: Empirical Evidence from Russia

Abstract

This Thesis examines the relationship between fertility and female employment patterns in Russia, using the data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) spanning between 1992 and 2016. Results indicate a negative association between fertility measure (proxied by having children under 10 years old) and female labor market outcomes, which support the previous empirical evidence on this topic. However, due to the specifics of Russian labor market our findings could be of especial note. Thus, our results show that mothers with young children are punished twice in a Russian labor market. Firstly, due to the observed phenomenon of a “motherhood wage gap,” which implies reduced opportunities to climb the career ladder (for women with children compared to the childless women). And secondly, due to persistence of “job segregation by gender,” which keeps women (including those with children) out of high-skilled jobs in the most highly paid industries and pushes them further toward a job in a government budgetary sector (like Education, Healthcare or Consumer Services) which is the “lowest-paid” job in Russia. The study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, it goes beyond the binary nature of the female labor participation indicator and provides empirical evidence from different labor market outcomes. Second, it provides an up-to-date analysis based on recent data (up to 2016) for Russia aiming to lessen the gap in existing research, which mostly relies on data from an earlier period. Lastly, this study provides an up-to-date literature review summarizing research results in the related field from the last decade.