Child penalty for formal and informal female workers in Brazil

Abstract

Based on evidence from various countries, the objective of this study is to analyze the potential penalties faced by Brazilian women in formal and informal labor markets after the birth of their first child. Using a multinomial logit model with fixed effects, and panel data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE) for the period between 2012 and 2019, the study examines how the birth of the first child affects the probabilities of a woman being inactive, unemployed, employed in the formal sector, or employed in the informal sector of the economy. The results show that becoming a mother increases the odds of being inactive by 58% to 131%. The persistence of this effect across alternative model specifications indicates robustness and reinforces the evidence that having a child increases women’s probability of inactivity.