revised version published in: Labour, 2005, 19 (s1), 79–121
In this paper we use newly available individual-level data from the Longitudinal Survey of
Italian Households to investigate the factors affecting female labour force participation after
the birth of the first child. We focus on the effects of pre-marital job characteristics and find
that working without a contract has a negative effect on new mothers' participation, while
working in the public sector or in a large private firm increases the probability of participation
after childbearing. We suggest that these effects could be at least partly attributed to
differences in the level of job protection and employment stability enjoyed by workers. This
implies that in Italy women with highly protected and stable jobs find it easier to combine
career and family, while those who are less sheltered by the legislation are more likely to
withdraw from the labour force after becoming mothers.
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