Shine posted an article today discussing a study that tried to quantify the cost of motherhood... how much earning potential did women lose because they choose to have children.
Shockingly (at least to me) is that after 10 years there is a 24% gap between the high-skilled* women who had children and there counterparts... ouch!
It almost makes you think women would be better off not having children (other than the whole end-of-the-species thing).... but the study also found that high skilled women who have children later (after 30) also tend to earn more than high skilled childless women. For some reason, the high-skilled women who chose to have children make more money before having children than those women who don't have children. So wanting to be a mother appears to pay off -- right up until the point that women actually have the child!
Some other stats from the study:
- Low-skilled women don’t get very big raises, and having kids does little to change that
- For high-skilled women, kids spell the end of raises.
- Becoming a parent seems to have no effect on men’s wages
I couldn't find the research paper itself posted online, but if you wanted to read the whole thing, you can buy it here: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16582
the study used the Armed Forces Qualification Test to determine high-skill vs low-skill.
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