This paper aims to quantify West German mothers' foregone earnings that stem from intermittent labor market participation due to first birth. As Random Effects regression results with German Socio-Economic Panel Data (West) indicate, at the closure time of their fecundity window mothers realize gross hourly wage cuts up to 25 %, compared to equally educated career women, whereas the total of annualized losses amounts to as far as 201,000 Euro. In the context of a dynamic bargaining model of household decisions, the care bill is suspected of delaying first birth or even preventing women from motherhood if divorce seems sufficiently probable.
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