Opting-Out: An Exploration of Labor Force Participation of New Mothers

1

Opting-Out: An Exploration of Labor Force Participation of New Mothers

By Jennifer Cheeseman Day and Barbara Downs

Presented at the Population Association of America2009 Annual Meeting

Detroit, Michigan

This report is released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion of work in progress. Any views expressed on methodological issues are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau.

2

IntroductionThe Media has highlighted the choice of some well educated, professional women to exit the labor force after having a baby (Belkin 2003; Wallis, 2004; Story 2005). This narrative describes a rising “revolution” of women who choose to leave their successful careers in favor of staying at home to take care of their children. Scholars argue this is a media myth: few women have the luxury of opting out. Rather, for those who do leave the labor force, many are driven primarily by lack of economic opportunities or workplace pressures. (Stone 2008; Bennetts 2007; Boushey 2005). Those pressures often include work environments incompatible or even hostile to the needs of parents with young children at home. Opting out, or merely reducing their levels of labor force participation, requires parents to forfeit future earnings. As such, it presents a major parenting penalty, paid mostly by women.

These parenting penalties may not be limited to women working in highly paid professional positions. Workers in low-paying occupations, or in occupations negatively affected by recent economic downturns, may find themselves unable to afford to work. Childcare costs for young children are high, living expenses are high, and when coupled with low-paying, or unsteady employment opportunities, workers may find it makes financial sense to leave or reduce their participation in the labor force. Such efforts to improve or mitigate short-term time and economic demands can result in long-term loss of earnings and benefits (Stone 2008; Bennetts 2007).

This research furthers the ‘opt-out’ discussion by investigating the prevalence of this phenomenon using the most recent nationally representative data available: the American Community Survey 3-year data file 2005-2007. We add a new dimension to the discussion by exploring whether opting-out is equally apparent across the occupational structure. We then explore the influences of both occupational characteristics and women's characteristics on women's decisions to work or not after having a birth.

3

Opting Out of the Labor Force After Having a Birth

• Unit of analysis: Women aged 16 to 50, approximately 70 million women• We consider employment differences for women based on reported fertility status in previous

12 months and presence of children in household. • Three measures considered: employment status based on status one week prior to interview;

part time status based on usual status when employed; dropout based on respondent’s answer to question regarding status one year prior.

• Employment status includes employed, unemployed, and not in the labor force. Part time is defined as usually working less than 35 hours a week and/or less than 50 weeks in a year.

Findings:• For all three measures, women who had a birth differed from those who did not, with a lower

percentage employed and higher percentages of part time and dropping out of the labor force. • No large differences appear in employment status between women with children who were at

least one year old and women who had no children in the household.• Women who had a birth in previous 12 months were more likely to have experienced

working less than the full year than women who had not had a birth, possibly due to use of unpaid maternity leave.

4

Employment Status of Women 16 to 50

50.0

67.8

67.8

63.2

41.8

42.8

33.3

13.0

15.8

Had a birth in last 12 months

Children in household 1 year or older

No children in household







Percent employed

Estimated employment dropout rate*

Percent part time among employed

*The number of women who were not employed this year but were employed the previous year divided by the current number of employed women.

5

Types of Part Time Employment

36.7

28.8

34.5

36.5

35.1

28.4

52.6

14.5

32.9

Worked part year, full timehours

Worked year round, part timehours

Worked part year and parttime hours




6

Opting Out by Occupation• Unit of analysis: 190 detailed occupations

covering 94 percent of all women with occupationsFor each occupation, we consider for women ages 16 to 50:*

– relative probability of working,– relative probability of working part time/part year;– estimated relative probability of dropping out of the labor force

• Occupations are classified into major occupations groups for presentation

Findings:• Working after a birth varies by occupation: for example, healthcare practitioners and

technicians were less likely than construction laborers to take time off without pay.1

• Management, business, and financial occupations had the highest rates of new mothers working part time or dropping out of the labor force.

*15 percent of women in this age group had no occupation (had not worked in previous 5 years) or were in the military.1 The relative probability of working after a birth for the occupational group of construction laborers was not statistically different from the

occupational group of farming, fishing, and forestry.

7

The difference in the percent working between women who had a baby in the previous 12 months to those who did not is standardized as a ratio of the two percents for each occupation, called the relative probability of working. As the relative probability approaches 1.0, the likelihood of women’s employment behavior after having a baby is closest to the norm for women in the occupation.

For example, 63 percent of librarians who had a birth in the previous 12 months worked compared with 89 percent who did not have a birth. The relative probability of a librarians working after having a birth is then 63 / 89 or .72.

Percent of Employed Women by Detailed Occupation

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

Occupation

Women without a birth in previous 12 months

Women with a birth in previous 12 months

Librarians, 63%

Librarians, 89%

Relative Probability of Working by Occupation

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

Occupation

Rel

ativ

e p

rob

abili

ty

Librarians, 0.72

8

Relative Probability of Working After Having a Birth

0.52

0.63

0.67

0.70

0.71

0.78

0.81

0.84

0.89

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00

Construction laborers

Farming, Fishing, Forestry

Production, Transportation, Material Moving

Sales and Office

Service

Community, Legal, Education, Arts

Management, Business, Financial

Computer, Engineering, Science

Healthcare Practitioner, Technical

Major Occupational Group

1.0

9

Relative Probability of Working Part time or Part year

1.42

1.26

1.62

1.54

1.31

1.26

2.12

1.82

1.68



Production, Transportation,Material Moving

Sales and Off ice

Service

Community, Legal,Education, Arts

Management, Business,Financial

Computer, Engineering,Science

Healthcare Practitioner,Technical

Major occupational group

1.0

10

Estimated Relative Probability of Dropping Out of the Labor Force

1.89

1.64

2.43

2.54

2.06

2.15

2.73

2.05

2.27



Production, Transportation,Material Moving

Sales and Off ice

Service

Community, Legal, Education,Arts

Management, Business,Financial

Computer, Engineering,Science

Healthcare Practitioner,Technical

Major Occupational Group

1.0

11

Selected Detailed Occupations

Number of women aged 16 to 50 in

occupation (in thousands)

Percent currently working of all

women in occupation

Percent of women having

a birth in previous 12

months

Relative probability of working after having a birth

Relative probability of working part

time after having a birth

Estimated relative

probability of dropping out of the labor force

Maids and housekeeping cleaners 1,163 69.6 6.3 0.60 1.39 2.58Cashiers 2,955 62.7 8.4 0.62 1.14 2.29Cooks 857 70.1 6.2 0.62 1.29 2.47Retail salespersons 1,746 70.0 5.4 0.63 1.18 2.24Food preparation workers 470 68.4 6.4 0.65 1.11 2.18Waiters and waitresses 1,836 69.8 6.7 0.66 1.16 2.11Janitors and building cleaners 673 70.2 5.3 0.66 1.42 2.49Stock clerks and order fillers 555 70.6 5.5 0.67 1.51 2.47Preschool and kindergarten teachers 523 78.6 7.3 0.69 1.34 3.19Receptionists and information clerks 1,018 75.1 5.9 0.69 1.40 2.52Secretaries and administrative assistants 2,859 81.3 4.9 0.71 1.64 2.89Teacher assistants 781 75.7 4.1 0.71 1.09 2.35Office clerks, general 822 78.2 4.4 0.71 1.38 2.50Personal and home care aides 504 73.4 5.5 0.72 1.34 2.23Customer service representatives 1,427 79.1 6.4 0.72 1.66 2.67Child care workers 1,337 68.9 6.7 0.74 1.20 1.78Medical assistants/other healthcare support 602 81.2 6.5 0.76 1.59 2.47First-line supervisors/managers of retail workers 1,195 83.6 4.8 0.77 2.07 2.74Human resources, training, labor relations specialists 478 86.9 5.9 0.77 2.24 3.08Elementary and middle school teachers 2,035 84.1 7.0 0.78 1.14 2.30Nursing, psychiatric, home health aides 1,590 76.9 6.5 0.78 1.56 2.15Bookkeeping, accounting, auditing clerks 1,006 84.9 4.8 0.78 1.74 2.73First-line supervisors/managers of office/administrative support 833 87.9 4.3 0.79 2.48 3.27Secondary school teachers 339 87.8 6.5 0.80 1.16 2.64Hairdressers, hairstylists, cosmetologists 585 85.9 6.5 0.81 1.59 2.56Managers, all other 808 88.5 4.8 0.81 2.34 2.73Accountants and auditors 963 88.9 5.4 0.82 1.98 3.29Postsecondary teachers 447 83.4 4.8 0.83 1.15 1.75Social workers 461 88.8 5.9 0.83 2.08 3.13Financial managers 458 90.6 5.3 0.84 2.34 3.27Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses 462 87.0 4.8 0.87 1.88 2.22Lawyers 275 89.7 6.7 0.88 1.68 2.37Registered nurses 1,669 91.7 5.7 0.90 1.75 2.44Physicians and surgeons 202 93.6 8.2 0.95 1.59 1.88

Relative Probabilities of Selected Detailed Occupations

12

Characteristics of Occupations

• Unit of analysis: 190 detailed occupations

• For each occupation, we consider the relative probability of working based on the following characteristics of the men and women 16 and older in each occupation. – percent women– percent having a baby in last 12 months– median age of women– percent in government, private industry, self employed– educational attainment– median earnings– percent employed – percent working part time

13

Findings:

Educational attainment within the occupation and median earnings appear to be the only useful predictors of whether women choose to work after having a child or not. While these factors co-vary, the higher R-square of model 4 over either model 5 or 6 suggests that they also have independent effects. Government, which is suggested in literature as family friendly, adds little to the probability.

14

Women

y = -5E-05x + 0.7716R2 = 0.0002

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent women in occupation

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

15

Women having a baby in the previous 12 months

y = -0.0021x + 0.7804R2 = 0.001

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00

Percent women having baby in last 12 months

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

16

Median Age of Female Workers

y = 0.0045x + 0.588R2 = 0.0762

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Median age of female workers

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

17

Government Worker

y = 0.0012x + 0.751R2 = 0.0645

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent government worker

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

18

Private Industry

y = -0.0014x + 0.8688R2 = 0.104

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent private industry

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

ain

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

19

Self Employed

y = 0.0008x + 0.76R2 = 0.0184

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent self employed

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

20

Less Than High School Diploma

y = -0.0046x + 0.8167R2 = 0.4565

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent w ith less than high school diploma

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

21

Bachelors degree

y = 0.0018x + 0.7054R2 = 0.3296

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent w ith a bachelors degree or more

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

22

Advanced degree

y = 0.002x + 0.7409R2 = 0.2186

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent w ith an advanced degree or more

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

23

Median Earnings of Occupation

y = 3E-06x + 0.6783R2 = 0.4301

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20,000.0 40,000.0 60,000.0 80,000.0 100,000.0 120,000.0 140,000.0 160,000.0

Median earnings

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

h

avin

g a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

24

Employed

y = 0.0074x + 0.1694R2 = 0.4374

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0

Percent employed

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

25

Part Time/ Part Year Workers

y = -0.0028x + 0.847R2 = 0.1192

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0

Percent part time/part year workers

Est

imat

ed r

elat

ive

pro

bab

ility

of

wo

rkin

g a

fter

a

bir

th in

pre

vio

us

12 m

on

ths

26

Parameter Parameter

Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate

Intercept 0.6037 <.0001 0.7022 <.0001 0.7358 <.0001 0.7461 <.0001 0.8167 <.0001 0.6783 <.0001

Median earnings (in thousands) 0.0018 0.0002 0.0020 <.0001 0.0017 <.0001 0.0017 <.0001 0.0028 <.0001

Percent with less than high school -0.0020 0.0013 -0.0025 <.0001 -0.0028 <.0001 -0.0030 <.0001 -0.0046 <.0001

Percent working in government 0.0005 0.0378 0.0005 0.0471 0.0005 0.0443

Percent female 0.0005 0.0631 0.0004 0.1006

Percent employed 0.0014 0.2133

Percent working part time -0.0003 0.5798

Percent bachelors degree or more -0.0001 0.7606

Median age of women -0.0001 0.9052

Percent had a birth -0.0002 0.9605

R-Square 0.5771 0.5756 0.5644 0.5547 0.4565 0.4301

Adj R-Sq 0.5560 0.5640 0.5573 0.5500 0.4536 0.4271

Pr > |t|Pr > |t|

Model 5

Pr > |t|Pr > |t| Pr > |t|

Model 6

Pr > |t|

Estimated Relative Probability of Working after a Birth in Previous 12 Months

Variable

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

27

Characteristics of Women Who Had a Birth in Previous 12 Months

• Unit of analysis: Women ages 16 to 50 who had a birth in the previous 12 months in 190 detailed occupations

• 59 percent of women in universe were employed after having a birth

• We consider the likelihood of working or not based on the following characteristics of these women:

– Human capital (age, educational attainment, potential work experience*)– Financial resources (total household income, husband’s earnings,

women’s synthetic earnings**)– Expenses (monthly housing expense, housing cost as a percentage of

household income, number of children in household) – Child care resources (marital status, number of adults in household)

* Defined as age minus years of schooling minus 5.** Predicted based on woman’s age, educational attainment, and occupation.

28

Findings:

Human capital: Women with more education are less likely to opt out of the labor force than those with less education. Similarly, older women are less likely to opt out of the labor force than their younger counterparts.

Financial resources: Women with a household income above $100,000 are less likely to opt out than those with lower household incomes. Women at the highest income levels of $200,000 or more are slightly more likely to opt out than those with incomes between $100,000 and $199,999, however, they are still less likely to opt out than those with household incomes below $100,000.

Expense measures: Expense measures and financial resources do co-vary, however, they appear to have independent and opposite effects. Holding household incomes constant, it appears that women with higher housing costs are more likely to opt out. In line with this result, women with more children are more likely to opt out.

Childcare resources: Marital status and financial resources co-vary. Holding household income constant, it appears that married women are more likely to opt out.

29

Human capital

Age

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Age

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed

Not employed or not in labor force

Educational Attainment among w omen w ho had a birth in previous 12 months

9.7

24.3

31.4

22.4

8.9

2.31.0

19.5

29.7 29.0

15.9

4.7

0.9 0.3

less than highschool

High schoolgraduate

Some college Bachelor's degree Master's Professional Doctorate

Educational Attainment

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed

Not employed or not in the labor force

Potential Years of Work Experience among w omen w ho had a birth in previous 12 months

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44

Potential years of work experience

Employed


30

Financial resources

Household Income

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

household income

Employed


Husband's Earnings

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

less

than

-1 zero

1-9,

999

10,0

00-19,

999

20,0

00-29,

999

30,0

00-39,

999

40,0

00-49,

999

50,0

00-59,

999

60,0

00-69,

999

70,0

00-79,

999

80,0

00-89,

999

90,0

00-99,

999

100,

000-1

09,9

99

110,

000-1

19,9

99

120,

000-1

29,9

99

130,

000-1

39,9

99

140,

000-1

49,9

99

150,

000-1

59,9

99

160,

000-1

69,9

99

170,

000-1

79,9

99

180,

000-1

89,9

99

190,

000-1

99,9

99

200,

000+

Husband's earnings

Per

cen

t D

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


Women's Synthetic Earnings

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

1-9,999 10,000-19,999

20,000-29,000

30,000-39,999

40,000-49,000

50,000-59,999

60,000-69,000

70,000-79,999

80,000-89,000

90,000-99,999

100,000-109,000

Synthetic earnings

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


31

Expenses

Monthly Housing Expense

1.7

39.1 39.8

12.7

4.1

1.5 1.03.4

47.5

33.8

9.8

3.31.2 1.0

No housingexpense

$1-999 $1000-1999 $2000-2999 $3000-3999 $4000-4999 $5000+

Monthly housing expense

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


Housing Costs

10.2

34.7

30.7

13.1

5.6

2.61.4 0.8 0.6 0.4

10.0

26.027.6

16.5

8.9

4.62.7

1.7 1.1 0.8

1 to 10percent

11 to 20percent

21 to 30percent

31 to 40percent

41 to 50percent

51 to 60percent

61 to 70percent

71 to 80percent

81 to 90percent

91 to 100percent

Housing expense as percent of household income

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


Number of Children in Household

3.9

38.1

34.0

16.2

5.3

1.6 0.83.0

31.8

35.2

19.1

7.1

2.4 1.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 or more

Number of children

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


32

Childcare resources

Number of Adults in Household

10.4

71.8

10.05.1

1.7 1.0

10.2

68.6

11.16.3

2.4 1.3

1 2 3 4 5 6 or more

Number of adults (18 yeard old or older) in household

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


Marital Status

67.2

0.3

4.52.6

25.5

63.5

0.33.7 2.8

29.7

married w idow ed divorced separated never married

Marital status

Per

cen

t d

istr

ibu

tio

n o

f w

om

en

Employed


33

Human capital

Less than high school graduate 0.667 * 0.738 * 1.082

High school graduate 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Some college 1.196 * 1.050 * 1.677 *

Bachelors degree or more 1.260 * 1.010 1.432 *

Advanced degree 1.720 * 1.248 * 1.923 *

Younger women (ages 16 to 27) 0.796 * 0.796 * 0.929 *

Women (ages 28 to 39) 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Older women (ages 40 to 50) 1.375 * 1.560 * 0.979

Financial resource

Household income -- less than $50,000 0.474 * 0.437 * 0.406 *

Household income -- $50,000 to $99,999 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Household income -- $100,000 to $199,999 1.231 * 1.189 * 1.457 *

Household income -- $200,000 or more 1.032 * 0.717 * 0.872 *

Expense measures

Monthly housing cost -- less than $1,000 0.978 * 0.962 * 0.859 *

Monthly housing cost -- $1000 to $1,999 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Monthly housing cost -- $2,000 to $2,999 0.800 * 0.698 * 0.716 *

Monthly housing cost -- $3000 or more 0.678 * 1.052 0.621 *

One child in household 1.240 * 1.218 * 1.213 *

Two children in household 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Three or more children in household 0.921 * 0.900 * 0.789 *

Childcare resources

Married 0.753 * 0.874 * 0.746 *

Not married 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

One adult in household 1.449 * 1.269 * 2.103 *

Two adults in household 1 1.000 1.000 1.000

Three or more adults in household 0.812 * 0.828 * 0.826 *1 omitted category.* significant at <.0001.

Odds Ratios of the Probability of Workingfor Women Who Had a Birth in Previous 12 Months

All OccupationsEffectProduction,

Transportation, Material Moving

Healthcare Practitioner and

Technical

for All Occupations and Selected Occupation Groups

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ConclusionsMost women in the United States work, even after having a child. While many take time off immediately after giving birth, the odds of working among women with older children at home is essentially the same as that of women with no children at home. However, some women do leave the labor force after childbirth.

The findings in this research suggest that the only occupational characteristics that impact a woman’s decision to opt out of the labor force are education and earnings. Government, which literature offers as having a family-friendly environment, appears to have only a small impact on the decision to opt out. This suggests that women are not choosing occupations based on their expected family plans but rather, make their family plans in whatever occupation they have based on the financial resources at their disposal.

We hypothesize two groups of women opt out: the many whose earnings are so low they may not have the childcare resources to afford to work, and those few whose family resources are such that they can afford to forgo their personal earnings. Our findings do not support the media’s suggestion that large numbers of professional women are opting out; quite the contrary, independent of the effects of earnings, women with more education stay in the work force after having a birth.

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References: Belkin, Lisa. 2003. “The Opt-Out Revolution,” New York Times Magazine, October 26. Bennetts, Leslie. 2007. The Feminine Mistake: Are we Giving up too Much?, Hyperion, New York, New York. Boushey, Healther. 2005. “Are Women Opting Out? Debunking the Myth,” Briefing Paper, Washington, DC Center for Economic and Policy Research. November.

Stone, Pamela. 2008. Opting Out?: Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. Story, Louise. 2005. “Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood,” New York Times, September 20. Wallis, Claudia. 2004. “The Case for Staying Home.” Time, May 10, pp. 22-50.

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Contact information

Jennifer Cheeseman Day: [email protected] Tel. 301-763-3399

Barbara Downs: [email protected] Tel. 301-763-6551

For more information on the American Community Survey (ACS), see the following website: http://www.census.gov/acs/www

The estimates in this report (which may be shown in text, figures, and tables) are based on responses from a sample of the population and may differ from actual values because of sampling variability or other factors. As a result, apparent differences between the estimates for two or more groups may not be statistically significant. All comparative statements have undergone statistical testing and are significant at the 90-percent confidence level unless otherwise noted.

Documents

Opting-Out: An Exploration of Labor Force Participation of New Mothers