Objective: We study the effect of work condition (i.e., employed, unemployed, precarious work, etc.) on heterosexual union formation and the effect of both partners’ work condition on fertility, taking into account the degree of job (in)stability. Background: The link between work and fertility has several nuances. Financial uncertainty drives decisions over whether to become parents, first influencing the possibility of forming a co-residing couple and then dictating the resources available for raising children. Italy, with its economic turbulence, traditional division of gender roles, and scarcity of family policies, presents a particularly interesting setting for studying this connection. Methods: Data comes from the Italian Labor Survey. We look in particular at the 1.6 million individuals aged 18-49 interviewed in 2012-20 and use a discrete event history approach to study couples. Results: The probability of being in a co-residing couple is much lower among unemployed men and women with precarious jobs. The probabilities of having a first and a second child are higher for dual-earner couples with stable jobs, and lower for all other combinations. Conclusions: Permanent jobs and a greater diffusion of dual-earner couples offer a means of increasing fertility, though in the Italian context of more gender traditional norms and weak public family welfare this remains a challenge. A return to Malthus offers a useful guide for interpreting these results, as a stable job position is the main preventive check for forming a couple and having children without falling into poverty

Work, couples, and fertility in Italy: back to Malthus?

Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna
;
Alessandra Minello;Carlo Paolin
2022

Abstract

Objective: We study the effect of work condition (i.e., employed, unemployed, precarious work, etc.) on heterosexual union formation and the effect of both partners’ work condition on fertility, taking into account the degree of job (in)stability. Background: The link between work and fertility has several nuances. Financial uncertainty drives decisions over whether to become parents, first influencing the possibility of forming a co-residing couple and then dictating the resources available for raising children. Italy, with its economic turbulence, traditional division of gender roles, and scarcity of family policies, presents a particularly interesting setting for studying this connection. Methods: Data comes from the Italian Labor Survey. We look in particular at the 1.6 million individuals aged 18-49 interviewed in 2012-20 and use a discrete event history approach to study couples. Results: The probability of being in a co-residing couple is much lower among unemployed men and women with precarious jobs. The probabilities of having a first and a second child are higher for dual-earner couples with stable jobs, and lower for all other combinations. Conclusions: Permanent jobs and a greater diffusion of dual-earner couples offer a means of increasing fertility, though in the Italian context of more gender traditional norms and weak public family welfare this remains a challenge. A return to Malthus offers a useful guide for interpreting these results, as a stable job position is the main preventive check for forming a couple and having children without falling into poverty
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3447996
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