Women who aspire for a high-paying job should consider delaying having babies until after they are 30. A new study highlights how motherhood can affect employment chances or loss of income for working women who have children earlier.
Researchers from Washington University cited that women have to make some financial trade-offs in choosing children over career. Even women who have college degrees stand to reduce their chances of earning better if they have their first child at 25 or below.
The study, which was published in the journal PLOS One and led by Man Yee Leung, looked into data taken from 1996 to 2009 in 1.6 million Danish women from the ages of 25 to 60. Their findings revealed that mothers who have had children before hitting 30, but are now working full time, earn a lot less than women who never had children, per Medical News Today.
High Paying Job: Are Children Career Killers?
"Children do not kill careers, but the earlier children arrive the more their mother's income suffers," said study co-author Raul Santaeulalia-Llopis, via Science News Line. The researchers estimated that working mothers lose at least two and half years' worth of labor income against their childless counterparts.
The study further learned that working moms with college degrees could eventually catch up with their colleagues, but it is worse for those who have not gone to college. Average income loss for working moms who do not have degrees is at 65 percent compared to their counterparts.
This implied that delaying pregnancy could be an incentive for women who are focused on their careers. But it should be worth noting that Denmark has a well-devised maternity leave plan, so the variables might be higher for women in the United States.
Career Over Children: The Impact To Society
Given these results, the study authors suggested companies should consider adding fertility treatments as a benefit to its workers. "The fact that highly productive women who have children earlier enter a lower income path is not only a loss for them, but for the entire society," said Santaeulalia-Llopis.
A recent CDC report pointed out that the rate of women choosing to have babies at an older age is increasing in the United States. While this has its own advantages and disadvantages, biologically, the chances of conception go down as a woman ages, especially without the help of fertility treatments.
