Women's Labor Force Participation and Fertility: A Comparison of Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women and the Consumer Panels

摘要

The purpose of the study has been to replicate analyses originally done with the Consumer Panel data using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women. In spite of the differences between the two samples in demographic characteristics and the variability in operational definitions of theoretical concepts, results of these analyses relating women's employment and fertility are often similar. Where differences exist they can in part be attributed to differences between the two samples in their stages in the family life cycle; the social and economic climate at the time of marriage and early childbearing; and the socioeconomic characteristics of the sample. The relationships between employment and fertility are not the same for white and black women in the NLS sample. The findings for white women are more similar to the findings from the Consumer Panel than are those for black women.