Employment after Childbearing in Post-War Britain: Cohort-Study Evidence on Contrasts within and across Generations

Abstract

In post-war Britain, mothers have been returning to the labour-market after diminishing breaks around childbearing. Longitudinal data, mainly from two generations in the National Survey of the 1946 cohort, are used to describe and help explain the trend. Class and regional differences diminish over time, both in simple two-way analyses and in multiple (hazard) regression. Women's education and occupational attainments retain a positive effect on their chances of entering employment over the two generations. The weakening of class differentials is taken to signal a reduction in the income effect of a shifting labour-supply function. Evidence on continuing job downgrading provides a cautionary note on interpreting increased employment as an improvement in female status.