Cross-national differences in the labour force attachment of mothers in Western and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This paper examines cross-national differences in the labour force attachment of two specific subgroups of mothers: the stay-at-home mothers (homemakers) and those on maternity or parental leave. The justification for focusing on homemakers is that these women constitute an untapped source of labour and are among those who would need to join the labour market in order to reach the EU employment target. As to those on leave, their temporary absence from work means that they will soon be facing a time when they have to decide whether or not to return to the labour market. They are therefore also a key group to consider. In this paper, the characteristics and labour market intentions of these two subgroups of women are analysed using data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) for ten countries: five Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy), and five Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania, Romania and the Russian Federation). This paper is structured as follows. It first reviews the literature on women’s employment by focusing on both individual and macro-level factors, including values, education and family circumstances. It then moves on to a presentation of the data and methods, followed by the results of the data analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and their policy implications.