Two Sides of a Coin: the Relationship Between Work Autonomy and Childbearing
Beata Osiewalska, Anna Matysiak, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, WP(2/2024)438
This paper investigates the under-researched role of the three types of work autonomy
– control over how, when and where to work – for both the entry into parenthood and the transition
to a second child across different social strata in the United Kingdom. Over the past three decades,
employees have gained increased work autonomy, a trend expected to persist with technological
advancements. Work autonomy substantially affects the combination of paid work and family life.
But its multifaceted impact on workers’ fertility behavior, especially across different educational
levels, has remained unclear. The study employs a sample of partnered women and men from
UKHLS 2009-2019 data. Event-history models are estimated. We find no relationship between
work autonomy and fertility behavior for men. Work autonomy is only weakly related to the
childbearing behavior of highly-educated women, though mothers with a university degree who
have control over their work time are more likely to have a second child. For lower-educated
women work autonomy is often negatively related to childbearing. The study highlights the
intricate link between work autonomy and fertility and emphasizes important social stratification
in the impact of autonomy on individuals. Further research is needed to unravel the observed
duality, i.e., understanding the challenges posed by work autonomy for fertility, especially among
the lower-educated.