The Effect of Parenthood on Care Workers’ Earnings: Exploring Identity Mobilization’s Applicability

Abstract

The parenthood wage gap is well-documented in professional work, but we know little about parenthood’s effects on earnings among care workers. As employers may use stereotypes linked to parental identity to determine rewards, care workers may leverage their parental identity to signal appropriateness for work, possibly leading to higher, rather than lower, earnings. At the same time, gender and racial identity may signal different levels of appropriateness to employers according to how they fulfill employer-held gender and racial stereotypes. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), we test the applicability of identity mobilization to show that mothers experience wage penalties compared to fathers and non-mothers, while fathers experience wage premiums. Additionally, mothers of color experience smaller penalties than White women, while fathers of color experience smaller premiums compared to White fathers. We also show differences across occupations. Overall, this study showcases the ways in which gender and racial inequality remain entrenched in society, rejecting identity mobilization’s applicability to care work wage gaps.