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Women's Labor Force Attachment Patterns and Maternity Leave: A Review of the Literature

Written by:
Working Paper Number POP-WP032

This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Demographic Association (SDA) in Annapolis, MD in October 1998.

Disclaimer

This paper reports the results of research and analysis undertaken by Census Bureau staff. It has undergone a more limited review than official Census Bureau publications. This report is released to inform interested parties of research and to encourage discussion.

Table of Contents

Tables

Figures

Appendix

Abstract

This paper presents a review of recent literature on women's labor force attachment and maternity leave. First, we review the historical trends in women's labor force participation from 1940 through 1997. Second, we consider the policy issues and relevant maternity leave legislation, noteably the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and how they have affected the direction of research. Next, we provide a brief description of the studies that we reviewed and discuss the results from these studies. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the changes in social, workplace, and policy issues that occurred and the directions for future research.

Introduction

This paper presents a review of a sample of recent literature on women's labor force attachment and maternity leave. First, we review the historical trends in women's labor force participation from 1940 through 1997. Second, we consider the policy issues and relevant maternity leave legislation, noteably the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), that have shaped research. Next, we provide a brief description of the studies that we reviewed and discuss the results from these studies. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the changes in social, workplace, and policy issues that occurred and the directions for future research.

Historical Trends in Labor Force Participation

As background to the study of research on maternity leave, it is important to place it in the historical perspective of changes in women's labor force participation. Figure 1 shows women's labor force participation rates from 1940 through 1997, a period when women played an increasingly important role in the labor force over time. In 1940, 28 percent of American women were in the labor force (US Bureau of the Census, 1960) and this percentage steadily increased over time to 60 percent in 1997 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics,1998)1. In addition, women have increasingly become a more substantial proportion of the labor force. In 1940 women made up one quarter of the labor force (US Bureau of the Census, 1960). By 1997 women constituted nearly half of the labor force (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998). As shown in the graph, there seems to be a leveling off of these labor force participation rates in the 1990s. The participation rates only increased by 2 percentage points since 1990 despite the long economic expansion of the 1990s. This may indicate that a threshold is being reached given the time consuming responsiblities of childrearing activities which disproportionately fall on women in families2.

Previous research has found that during recessions or in times of high unemployment, women's labor force participation rates tend to level off or decline (Leibowitz and Klerman, 1995). This is visually shown in Figure 1 which depicts a leveling off or decline of the female labor force participation rate around recession periods whose duration and occurrence are indicated by the horizontal bars.

Policy Issues and Legislation

Recently, women's labor force participation and issues of parental leave have been of utmost importance not only to families and individuals, but also to policy makers, researchers, and employers. Over the past fifteen years, we have seen an advancing public policy debate starting with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) in 1978 and culminating with the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993. Under the PDA, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related conditions. Thus, women cannot be fired, denied a job, or denied a promotion because they are pregnant. The FMLA furthers parent's ability "to strike a workable balance between the competing demands of the workplace and the home" (Commission on Family and Medical Leave, 1996) by guaranteeing up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave without pay during any 12 month period to qualifying employees - fathers as well as mothers. This act is important for many reasons, one being that it is the first federal law that requires some US employers to offer parental leave to women and men with qualifying employment histories. Women's labor force participation especially surrounding childbirth has been, and continues to be, a governmental and national concern, rather than just a family or individual interest.

A brief summary of the FMLA follows. Eligible employees are those employees who:

  • were employed for at least one year by the current employer,
  • worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months, and
  • worked for a business employing 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius of the eligible employees worksite.

The family medical leave can be used for:

  • the birth or adoption of a child,
  • the acquisition of a foster child,
  • the care of a serious illness of a child, spouse, or parent, or
  • a serious illness of the employee.

In addition, during the leave the employer must continue to provide health insurance benefits to the employee who is eligible for family medical leave.

The FMLA is important to our study because it represents a conceptual division in the current research: pre-FMLA and post-FMLA studies. These pre-FMLA studies generally researched issues surrounding labor force attachment patterns of women, types of maternity leave used, labor force retention rates, and the consequential implications for the earnings opportunities of women. While some authors examined the determinants of these issues in great detail, other authors used their findings to argue in favor of parental leave policies. Now, in the post-FMLA era, considerable research focuses on the effects of the FMLA on increasing maternity leave coverage for women and examining which population groups are still vulnerable and left uncovered.

Brief Description of the Studies Reviewed

Although the research on women's labor force attachment patterns and maternity leave date back to the 1940s, we concentrate on the most current literature. This paper does not intend to provide a comprehensive synthesis of all available research on this topic. Rather, it compiles the results from 11 studies with an analytical and policy point of view that is of particular interest to future research for policy analysts concerned with maternity leave issues.

The first seven studies we discuss in this paper were conducted prior to the passage of the FMLA (Table 1). The main themes of the studies include working during pregnancy; returning to work after childbirth; employer policies and job retention; and job continuity and subsequent wages. The authors generally used a variety of nationally representative data sources--the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), the Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS), and the National Child Care Survey (NCCS). One study surveyed employed mothers from four pre-natal hospitals in Indiana (Glass and Riley, 1998).

Table 2 shows the four post-FMLA studies reviewed. Authors studied the impact of the FMLA on increasing the proportion of women eligible for maternity leave, and to whom these maternity leave rights are extended. They also researched changes in the amount of leave taken. Three of the studies use nationally representative data based on interviews with a random sample of households the CPS and the SIPP. One study, by the Commission on Family and Medical Leave, interviewed a representative sample of employees and firms from all sectors of the economy.

Labor Force Participation Patterns: Results From the Pre-FMLA Period

There are two recurrent themes in the pre-FMLA literature: working during pregnancy and returning to work after childbirth. Table 3 shows the findings from four studies: Garrett et al., Glass and Riley, O'Connell, and Waldfogel. Discounting the Glass and Riley study, which only included pregnant, working women, about 6 out of every 10 women worked while pregnant in the 1980s. Over a longer time period, O'Connell found 65 percent of women who had their first births in 1981- 1984 worked during pregnancy, up from 44 percent in the 1961-65 period. Changes in the nature of work from manufacturing to service sector jobs has made it easier for women to balance pregnancy and work, especially by providing flexibility in the daily work schedule.

Table 3 also shows the percent of women who return to work within six months and one year of their child's birth. Among the studies of 1980s data (Garrett et al., O'Connell, and Waldfogel), there is consensus on the proportion of mothers who were employed during their pregnancy and return to work. Garrett et al. and O'Connell find nearly the exact same proportion (60 and 59 percent respectively) of women who return to work within 6 months of their child's birth, and Waldfogel finds a similar proportion (53 percent).

Determinants of Whether Women Work During Pregnancy

Table 4 shows the findings from surveys that look at the determinants of whether women work during pregnancy. Both Garrett et al. and O'Connell find that women with a higher education are more likely to work during pregnancy. Garrett et al. also conclude that women are more likely to work while pregnant if they are Black, have other adults present in the household, and have higher family incomes. Women are less likely to work during their pregnancy with increasing numbers of children. O'Connell's study finds that women's employment status immediately prior to the pregnancy, more specifically, if she was already employed, is a significant determinant of whether she worked during the pregnancy. He also finds that older women are more likely to work during pregnancy than younger women.

Determinants of Whether Women Return to Work After Childbirth

Three studies researched whether women return to work after childbirth. Table 5 shows the results of their work. Both Garrett et al. and O'Connell reveal that if the woman worked during her pregnancy, she is more likely to return to work after childbirth. Obviously, it is easier to return to work to a prior employer than to set out to find new work if one was not employed during pregnancy. It is important to note that O'Connell finds that women with employer provided maternity leave are more likely to return to work after childbirth than women without this benefit. Garrett et al. and Leibowitz and Klerman show that the mother's relative income is an important factor in the labor force retention of mothers. Garrett et al. find that if the mother's income is a substantial proportion of the family income she is more likely to return to work. Leibowitz and Klerman affirm that mother's with higher earnings opportunities are more likely to return to work. All three studies concur that Black women are morelikely to return to work after childbirth than White women.

In terms of factors that are associated with women not returning to work after childbirth, Garrett et al. find that women who left the labor force while pregnant and women who have had an additional child are less likely to return to work. Leibowitz and Klerman find that the child's age, men's higher earnings opportunities, and higher unemployment rates are all negatively associated with a woman's return to work after childbirth. O'Connell showed that labor force separations early in the pregnancy were also related to lower probabilities of returning to work than were women who worked very late during their pregnancy.

Employer Policies, Maternity Leave, and Job Retention

Next we discuss two studies that research the effect of employer policies and the likelihood of job retention (Table 6). Both Hofferth and Glass and Riley independently show that job flexibility in terms of the availability of part-time work is a significant factor determining whether a mother will return to work after childbirth. Hofferth also finds that the availabity of unpaid leave, a flexible spending account, permission to work at home, and child care at the workplace are statistically significant predictors of whether a mother will return to work. Glass and Riley demonstrate that the amount of leave, the ability to avoid overtime hours, and having supervisor and co-worker support are significant employer based variables in job retention.

Job Continuity and Subsequent Wages

Waldfogel and Felmlee research the impact of leaving the labor force for extended periods of time for childbirth and child rearing on the careers of women. As you can see in Table 7, Felmlee establishes that women who are married, those with higher educational levels, and those with young children are more likely to change jobs or leave the labor force. A common finding in the two studies is that these separations have detrimental effects on women's wages and salaries. Both researchers conclude that continuous employment is a determinant of higher subsequent wages. Waldfogel illustrates that women who maintain employment continuity over childbirth were more likely to have a higher pay at age 30 than women who left the labor force around childbirth. She also indicates that women who were covered by a formal maternity leave policy and returned to their original employer had higher subsequent wages.

Maternity Leave Coverage in the Post-FMLA Period

Table 8 presents the findings from the post-FMLA studies. There seems to be consensus among the studies that the FMLA provides maternity leave to around half of American working women. O'Connell estimates that in the 1960s only one third of employed women were covered by maternity/sick or paid or unpaid leave during their pregnancy3. Although research has found that the FMLA has had minimal impact in extending maternity leave rights to all working women, other important findings emerge. Klerman and Leibowitz find that the FMLA increases leave among mothers in the first and second months after childbirth. Ross shows that the FMLA extends the average length of leave for eligible women, who already have options for job-protected leave. Finally, Waldfogel shows that the FMLA significantly increases coverage among women who work in medium size firms, and expands the length of leave taken.

Labor Force Participation and Maternity Leave Over Time

In conclusion, it is insightful to look at the changes in the social issues in women's labor force participation literature over time. The top of Figure 2 illustrates subjects researched from 1940 to the present. The bottom portion shows the workplace and policy legislation during the same time period that significantly effected women.

Changes in Social Issues in the Literature

As shown in Figure 2, in the 1940s and 1950s the research concentrated on the attitudes toward women working, married women with children in particular, and the role conflict that many saw at the core of this new phenomenon. The focus was on the family: the private decisions of husbands and wives and whether women should work.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, researchers began to look at the relationships between work and family. Research concentrated on the determinants of whether women with children would work. They asked, "Who are the women who work throughout childbearing?" and "What are the differences in mother's employment after the first birth?" There was still a focus on the family and fertility, however the hints of a change toward the ways that childbearing affects women's employment were seen in the 1980s.

The late 1980s and the 1990s represent a shift in the research topics. The literature focuses on family policies and employee retention following childbirth. With the passage of the FMLA, research has begun to assess the impact of the FMLA on leave-taking and coverage rates. Other issues include pay differentials of men and women, and women's employment continuity. Rather than questioning whether women should work, it is assumed that women work and will work throughout their life cycle. The trend away from the private, family decision is furthered; the research now resembles a public debate focused on parental leave policies and options that are national issues and concerns.

Changes in Workplace and Policy Issues

Simultaneously, there were changes in workplace and policy issues. In 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. This act was concerned with the environmental health of employees in the workplace, and minimum wage and industrial issues. At this point, only 27 percent of women worked, and women constituted only one quarter of the work force. Thus, women were not a major player in the workplace and the public policy and job related issues reflect this.

In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was signed; immediately following in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. Then in 1978, Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits employers from firing women because they are pregnant. Concurrently, the labor force participation rate of women steadily increased and in 1970 roughly four in ten American workers were women. A growing political emphasis placed issues of equality and work increasingly at the center of public debate.

Congress passed the FMLA in 1993 and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), or Welfare Reform Act, in 1996. These policies concentrate on family behavior patterns and work issues, but more actively involve the government in labor force decisions between employee and employer. The increase in family friendly policies seen even before 1993 shows that the FMLA codifies policies that were already in place in some instances, for example in large firms. Employers increasingly view women as substantial contributors to their goal. Given that women constitute nearly half of the workforce in 1996, the passage of the FMLA is evidence that women's family role as care providers play a part in shaping workplace issues. However, as the post-FMLA research shows, the FMLA may provide family leave to more families by increasing coverage, extending the length of time available, and expanding the leave to all parents, fathers and mothers alike.

The question that remains is: What research topics can we expect to see early in the next millennium? Further research on the effects of the FMLA on leave taking and job retention, including paternity leave, and perhaps more focus on the differentials of leave taking among mothers and fathers. A newly expanded maternity leave module in the the 1996 SIPP panel includes questions on the type of leave, level of responsibility, and pay scale of women both before and after child birth to better assess the economic costs of separation from the labor force because of child bearing and child rearing. We can also expect to see research on the interaction of the FMLA and welfare reform, as well as continued interest in the balance between work and family, impacts of delayed childbearing, and job continuity and wage differentials among women and men.

1 Included in the labor force are those who work full-time, part-time, and those who are unemployed. The rates for 1940-1947 are for 14 years and older. The rates for 1948-1997 are for 16 years and older.

2 Due to changes in data collection methodologies over time, it is not possible to present consistent annual estimates of labor force participation rates for mothers with children under 6 years old since the 1940s. Prior to 1970, the labor force participation rates of never married mothers with children were not tabulated in published reports.

3 O'Connell, Martin. 1990. "Maternity Leave Arrangements: 1961-85." In Work and Family Patterns of American Women. Current Population Reports, Special Studies series P-23, no. 165. US Census Bureau. Table D.

References

Commission on Family and Medical Leave. 1996. A Workable Balance: Report to Congress on Family and Medical Leave Policies. Washington, DC: US Department of Labor.

Felmlee, Diane. 1995. "Causes and Consequences of Women's Employment Discontinuity, 1967-1973." Work and Occupations 22:167-87.

Garrett, Patricia, Sally Lubeck, and DeeAnn Wenk. 1990. "Childbirth and Maternal Employment: Data from a National Longitudinal Survey." In Parental Leave and Child Care: Setting a Research Agenda edited by Janet Shibley Hyde and Marilyn J. Essex. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Glass, Jennifer, and Lisa Riley. 1998. "Family Responsive Policies and Employee Retention Following Childbirth." Social Forces. 76(4):1401-35.

Hofferth, Sandra L. 1996. "Effects of public and private policies on working after childbirth." Work and Occupations. 23(4): 378 - 404.

Klerman, Jacob and Arleen Leibowitz. 1998. "FMLA and the Labor Supply of New Mothers: Evidence from the June CPS." Paper presented at the Population Association of America meeting, Chicago.

Leibowitz, Arleen and Jacob Klerman. 1995. "Explaining Changes in Married Mothers' Employment over Time." Demography. 32(3): 365-378.

O'Connell, Martin. 1990. "Maternity Leave Arrangements: 1961-85." In Work and Family Patterns of American Women. Current Population Reports, Special Studies series P-23, no. 165. US Census Bureau.

Ross, Katherin. 1998. "Labor Pains: The Effects of the Family and Medical Leave Act on Recent Mothers' Return to Work After Childbirth." Paper presented at the Population Association of America meeting, Chicago.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1960. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957. Library of Congress Card No. A 60-9150. Washington, DC.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1998. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1998. (118th edition) Washington, DC.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1998. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Extracted from internet site //146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/surveymost on December 17, 1999. Washington, DC.

Waldfogel, Jane. 1997. "Working Mothers Then and Now: A Cross-Cohort Analysis of the Effects of Maternity Leave on Women's Pay." In Gender and Family Issues in the Workplace edited by Francine D. Blau and Ronald G. Ehrenberg. New York: Russel Sage.

Waldfogel, Jane. 1998. "The Impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act." Paper presented at the Population Association of America meeting, Chicago.

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