Seminar on ‘Job stability and Fertility Intentions across Europe: Does Labour Market Legislation Matter?’
On November 10 a joint seminar of the Laboratory for Labour Market Studies and the Centre for Labour Market Studies was held at HSE. Tatiana Karabchuk, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Deputy Head of the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, spoke on ‘Job stability and Fertility Intentions across Europe: Does Labour Market Legislation Matter?’
On November 10 a joint seminar of the Laboratory for Labour Market Studies and the Centre for Labour Market Studies will be held at HSE. Tatiana Karabchuk, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Deputy Head of the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, will speak on ‘Job stability and Fertility Intentions across Europe: does labour market legislation matter?’
Abstract:
Total birth rates in Europe went down dramatically in almost all countries during the last 40 years. The postponed marriages and childbirth delays resulted from the global value changes could only partially explain this decline. I claim that one of the main reasons for the mentioned decline is the rise of job and income instability caused by labor market polarization. The growth of flexible market relations increased uncertainty and job insecurity in many European countries during the last decades. This paper aims to disclose and explain the impact of job instability on fertility intentions taking into account the employment legislation of the country. I use the developed theoretical approach of closed/open labor markets to work out the macro level hypotheses for countries’ differences and the theory of precarious work for micro level hypotheses. The empirical analysis is grounded on the European Social Survey, conducted in 2004 and 2010 for 27 countries. The results from the multilevel modeling showed that the rigid employment legislation which is leading to the rise of job instability decreases fertility intentions while liberal labor market with less perceived inequalities between primary and secondary labor markets contributes to childbirth planning.