Welfare regimes, family-supportive policies, and women's employment along the life-course

This article examines women's employment patterns during the child-rearing period and the consequences of those patterns for earnings later in life, i n 12 industralized countries. This study proposes an analytic framework tha t combines "welfare regime" and gender-specific policies to explain country differences. The findings presented here suggest that institutional arrang ements mediate the costs to women's part-time and intermittent employment. Within welfare regimes, employment continuity is highest among countries in which the state provides support for working mothers. Furthermore, this st udy finds that lower support for mothers' employment is associated with hig her wage penalties to employment discontinuity.