Labour market participation of French women over the life cycle, 1935-1990

Employment histories with multiple spells and time varying covariates help identify determinants of labour market transitions of women in France betwe en 1935 and 1990. Higher educated women were more likely to become inactive , but returned to work also more easily, especially when they added work ex perience. Being married, whether mother or not, induced a rearrangement of time between staying at home and labour, in rendering exit from employment more likely and return from inactivity to employment less likely. Exits fro m employment were less frequent for mothers of larger families, while retur n to employment decreased with the total number of children, in spite of th e growing financial needs of larger families. Transitions between employmen t and inactivity increased with favourable economic conditions. However, in voluntary exits from employment were more probable during economic downturn s.