Child penalty in Russia: evidence from an event study

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the child penalty in Russia using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) and the methodological framework of event studies. We find that five years after childbirth, women suffer an earnings penalty, while no effect is observed for men. The mothers’ penalty stems exclusively from lower employment after childbirth. Contrary to similar studies on Western Europe and the US, we do not find penalties in terms of working hours or hourly wage rates for women who remain in the labour force. We further find that mothers’ employment penalty is strongly driven by household characteristics and by their spouses’ beliefs. Finally, we find that parenthood decreases the probability of working in supervisory positions for mothers and in the public sector for fathers.