In this project MiSoC Co-I Susan Harkness will examine the role of family and job characteristics, observed the year before childbirth, and the influence of social norms in affecting parental return to work and employment trajectories in the five years after birth. Using longitudinal data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey and sequence and cluster analysis we are building a rich descriptive picture of the typical employment pathways followed by parents in the years after birth. Transitions between maternity leave, non-employment, part-time and full-time employment and the timing if these transitions are all considered. These are then linked to job and family circumstances, observed in the year prior to birth so that we can assess how they influence parents’ return to work. The initial findings illustrate stark differences in mothers’ and fathers’ employment trajectories in the years after birth with fathers moving closer to the labour market, and mothers increasingly withdrawing from it, over time. This suggests that the jobs that parents did prior to birth influence women’s, but not men’s, patterns of return illustrating the continuing importance of social norms in influencing parental employment.
