Child penalties across industries: why job characteristics matter

This article investigates the impact of parenthood on women’s labour market outcomes in Belgium. Using administrative data and an event study design, we show that mothers lose 32% of their labour earnings relative to fathers, up to eight years after the birth of their first child. Furthermore, we find a strong positive correlation between the size of the child penalty for a given sector and the share of its workers who report working atypical work schedules or irregular hours, suggesting that job characteristics matter in determining the size of the child penalty.