Beschreibung

"Cross-sectional studies show that in West Germany, the labour force participation of mothers with different levels of educational attainment has changed during the past few decades, the most severe decrease of labour force participation has been observed for less educated mothers, whereas better educated woman were less affected. In this article, one potential underlying mechanism is examined: re-entry of mothers into the labour market after a period of inactivity. I argue that, in addition to societal changes, reforms in parental leave legislation could be responsible for educational differences of mothers' employment. Using retrospective life course data from the IAB ALWA study, I find evidence that women with different levels of educational attainment have different patterns of re-entry into the labour market. Furthermore, changes of parental leave schemes play a crucial role for re-entry. Some evidence of educational polarisation of re-entry behaviour is found from 1992 onwards." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))