German mothers earn $45,000 less than women without children, study shows
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Women demonstrating in front of the German parliament building, as part of a campaign advocating for equal rights for mothers, in Berlin on May 10.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
BERLIN – The loss of income for women after the birth of their first child is significantly greater in Germany than previously assumed, according to a study by the ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research seen by Reuters on Oct 24.
In the fourth year after giving birth, mothers earn on average almost €30,000 (S$45,000) less than women of the same age without children, according to the study done together with Tilburg University in the Netherlands.
Previous estimates had been around €20,000 (S$30,000).
More challenging for women under 30
The losses develop differently depending on how old a woman is when she first gives birth, according to the study conducted among 186,000 mothers.
If women become mothers for the first time under the age of 30, apart from income losses, they also miss important career steps in the particularly formative early phase of their working life, said study co-author Lukas Riedel.
Women who have children at a later point have already gone through this phase, which often involves high wage growth, and have established themselves in the labour market, the researchers said.
As a result, they do record stronger absolute declines in income levels, for example due to reduced working hours.
“In the long term, however, they find it easier to resume their careers after giving birth,” said Dr Riedel. REUTERS
