Behaviour Surrounding Childbirth: An Examination of Labor Force Behaviour among Immigrant and German Women

Eileen Trzcinski, Wayne State University
Sherrie Kossoudji, University of Michigan

In this paper, we analyze and compare the labor force behavior of women from different immigrant groups with the labor force behavior of native born German women in the west and in the east during the period before and following childbirth. In our analyses, we differentiate between part-time and full-time labor market attachment. We also investigate whether differences exist between immigrant and native born German women in subjective well-being and in amount and types of household income available in the first three to five years following the birth of a child. For the analyses, we use longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 1992-2000. Our results indicate that patterns of labor market participation differ for immigrant versus German women both prior to and after the first and higher order births. However, the nature of these differences depends on the type of employment and on birth order.