The Fatherhood Premium or the Fatherhood Penalty? It Depends on the Type of Marriage You’re in: The Case of Slovakia 2009 through 2018

Abstract

The study provides estimates of the fatherhood premium for Slovakia from 2009 through 2018 using data from the EU SILC survey. We found that a raw fatherhood premium amounted to 22.26% from 2009 through 2018. However, when controlling for demographic and human capital characteristics, the premium declines to 4.90%. When accounting for the effects of partnership, the premium turns into the fatherhood penalty of 7.31%. We also show that the fatherhood premium depends on the household division of labour. For dual-earner families, fatherhood results in a penalty on fathers’ incomes that amounts to 9.23% (7.87% when controlled for demographic and human capital characteristics). However, this outcome is driven by two lowest deciles of male income distribution. The effect of fatherhood on men’s incomes in the male-breadwinner model when the wife fully cares for the home and parental duties (as well as high income fathers in dual-earners families) is exactly the opposite. The fatherhood premium amounts to 21.79% (7.22% when controlled for demographic and human capital characteristics).