MU study finds 27% fall in earnings after childbirth for female university graduates

Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 15:45

Maynooth University economists Dr Aedin Doris, Professor Donal O'Neill and Dr Olive Sweetman have found a substantial earnings gap emerges after childbirth for female graduates.

The researchers from the Department of Economics in their study identified a 27 percent fall in earnings immediately after childbirth, although male and female graduates had similar earnings immediately after graduation.

The study explores the timing and determinants of the gender wage gap for university educated employees in Ireland. It uses an administrative dataset covering Irish graduate earnings from 2010-2020 to look at a broad range of degrees and compare workers who are identical in important observable characteristics.

“Our data allows us to look at a broad range of degrees and compare workers who are identical in important observable characteristics. We find that although male and female graduates have similar returns to study field immediately after graduation, a substantial gap soon emerges. This is particularly true when considering women with children and is driven by a 27 percent fall in earnings immediately after childbirth. We find no striking differences between fields of study; there is a substantial and persistent motherhood effect for all field groupings.”

The researchers examine and dismiss the possibility that the gender difference in earnings dynamics is driven by job mobility; finding almost all of the difference is accounted for by changes within a job.

Although there is a large and persistent reduction in hours of work after childbirth, this does not seem to explain all of the reduction in earnings, the paper finds. 

A full copy of the paper is available here