Does the European country-specific context alter the fatherhood premium?

Abstract

This paper contributes to the discussion on the effects of childbearing on fathers’ labour market opportunities in Europe. We use instrumental variable models and data from EU-SILC to examine the cross-country variation in the causal effects of family size on the labour market outcomes of fathers. We provide an overview of the impact of family size on the employment careers of fathers, as measured on a range of dimensions: the probability of work, the number of working hours, the job rank and level of pay, and the degree of job stability based on the type of employment contract. Our findings indicate that men increase their number of working hours and earnings in response to having more children, but that the stability of men’s employment contracts does not change. These effects are prevalent across all European countries, but they are somewhat stronger in more conservative societies in which men are expected to be the main breadwinners, and they are weaker in egalitarian societies in which men are expected to participate in household and family duties.