EMPLOYMENT AFTER CHILDBEARING IN POSTWAR BRITAIN - COHORT-STUDY EVIDENCE ON CONTRASTS WITHIN AND ACROSS GENERATIONS

In post-war Britain, mothers have been returning to the labour-market after diminishing breaks around childbearing. Longitudinal data, mainl y from two generations in the National Survey of the 1946 cohort, are used to describe and help explain the trend. Class and regional differ ences diminish over time, both in simple two-way analyses and in multi ple (hazard) regression. Women's education and occupational attainment s retain a positive effect on their chances of entering employment ove r the two generations. The weakening of class differentials is taken t o signal a reduction in the income effect of a shifting labour-supply function. Evidence on continuing job downgrading provides a cautionary note on interpreting increased employment as an improvement in female status.