Fertility differentials in Sweden during the first half of the twentieth century - the effect of female labor force participation and occupational field

Glenn Sandström, Umeå University
Emil Marklund, Umeå University
Åsa Andersson, Umeå University

Contrary to the expected negative link between rising female education and fertility it has been shown that in Sweden (Sandström, 2014a) and many other Western countries (Van Bavel, 2014a; Van Bavel et al., 2015) fertility differentials across educational strata decreased sharply during the baby boom. Studies on contemporary data find that the field of education/occupation has a larger net effect than the level of education (Hoem, Neyer, & Andersson, 2006a; e.g. Michelmore & Musick, 2014a; Van Bavel, 2010). Little is however know about the fertility patterns among economically active women prior to the 1960s and how they changed over time. Using individual level data this paper investigates the fertility of women in different sectors of the economy in Sweden during the early expansion of female labor force participation and higher education from the 1920s up until the end of the baby boom.