Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13044
Authors: Aline Butikofer; Sissel Jensen; Kjell G. Salvanes
Abstract: Is the wage penalty due to motherhood larger among highly qualified women? In this paper, we studythe effect of parenthood on the careers of high-achieving women relative to high-achieving men in aset of high-earning professions with either nonlinear or linear wage structures. Using Norwegianregistry data, we find that the child earnings penalty for mothers in professions with a nonlinearwage structure, MBAs and lawyers, is substantially larger than for mothers in professions with alinear wage structure. The gender earnings gap for MBA and law graduates is around 30%, butsubstantially less for STEM and medicine graduates, 10 years after childbirth. In addition, weprovide some descriptivestatistics on the role of fertility timing on the child earnings penalty.
Keywords: gender gap; top jobs; parenthood
JEL Codes: J16; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| parenthood (J12) | gender earnings gap (J31) |
| childbirth (J13) | earnings trajectories (J31) |
| child earnings penalty (J13) | mothers in nonlinear wage structure (J79) |
| child earnings penalty (J13) | mothers in linear wage structure (J31) |
| timing of childbirth (J13) | child earnings penalty (J13) |
| early career female lawyers (J44) | earnings loss compared to male counterparts (J31) |
| early career MBAs (M13) | earnings penalty convergence (J31) |