"Having it all" no longer: Fertility, female labor supply, and the new life choices of generation X

Abstract

This study uses data from the U.S. Current Population Surveys and Natality Detail Files to examine cohort-level changes infertility and female labor supply. Although only at the start of their careers, college-educated women from more-recent cohorts are having more children and supplying less market labor than their counterparts born toward the end of the baby boom. Pronounced differences across cohorts suggest that recent increases infertility and declines in female labor supply have structural underpinnings and may continue for some time.