ABSTRACT

Having a child can have a heavy toll on parents' earnings, especially in the first years after childbirth, with mothers often being more affected than fathers. This is particularly true in the three Baltic states, with relatively generous parental leave benefits compared to the EU and norms encouraging mothers to care for children. I carry out an event study to estimate the effect of having a child on the earnings of both genders and find that the earnings of females reduce by half in the first calendar year after childbirth and by 20% to 33% in the second, while male earnings do not change in either period. This results in a widening earnings gap in the Baltics, more so than in several comparison countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway), in the first two years after the birth of the first child.

摘要

生孩子会对父母的收入造成沉重打击，尤其是在分娩后的头几年，母亲受到的影响往往大于父亲。这三个波罗的海国家尤其如此，与欧盟相比，育儿假福利相对慷慨，而且规范鼓励母亲照顾孩子。我进行了一项事件研究来估计生孩子对男女收入的影响，发现女性的收入在分娩后的第一个日历年减少一半，第二年减少 20% 到 33%，而男性收入在任何一个时期都没有变化。在第一个孩子出生后的头两年，这导致波罗的海国家的收入差距扩大，超过几个比较国家（丹麦、芬兰、瑞典、荷兰和挪威）。