Later-baby mothers earn 10% more

[Thom Little]

Career women will earn 10% more a year throughout their working lives if they delay having a baby by one year, according to new research.
Amalia Miller, 28, began investigating the price of motherhood because she and her friends were discussing the best time to have a baby.

Could it ruin careers to have children young? Would they be risking infertility by waiting too long? Miller, an economist at the University of Virginia, had read Sylvia Hewlett’s much publicised book, Baby Hunger, about the regrets felt by childless career women and wondered whether there was a rational basis for their decision to put off motherhood.

She found that young university-educated mothers earned significantly less over their lifetimes than women who began their families as little as 12 months later. For unskilled workers the age of motherhood made no difference.

.......

She discovered that a 24- year-old mother would earn roughly 10% less — right up to retirement — than a 25-year-old mother, while a 26-year-old would earn 10% less than a 27-year-old. The same applied to 29 and 30-year-old mothers and so forth.

Once women are on what Miller calls the “mommy track”, they tend to get sidelined by employers.




http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1938164,00.html

[Warpy]

1. Read that article carefully

It shows that womens' earning power plunges after they produce a child.

Isn't this the opposite of what it should be?

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

3. i think you are generall pegged early on

in most careers: whether you will be someone who makes a lot of money, or not.

Having a child early, and being absent for a long stretch while those evaluations are being made, may be very damaging.

Usually when someone is in their 30s in the corporate world, the company has already decided if they are a high or low salary person.

[fortyfeetunder]

2. There are ways to overcome this

Some grim realities I've encountered:

We still have a population that believes that motherhood diminishes one career potential. I didn't say it was right, but we still have generations that still believe moms (and dads) are not to have careers if they take time to stay home raising a family.
Anyone who takes time off for whatever reason, without some active continuing ed, risks having one skills dated or unusable in a few years.

Parents need to recognize the potential setback in their particular careers that time out may cause and prepare themselves accordingly to minimize this setback.

First, acquiring as many transferrable skills so it's possible to change careers (another grim career reality).
Second, staying active with professional organizations, especially while not in the workforce. This a pipeline to career opportunities and networking.
Third, finding the opportunity to network and make personal contacts with people in the position to hire others.
Fourth, keeping the resume updated.
Fifth, continuing education can never hurt. Now we have online course materials which can be studied anytime in a 24 hour day. It's not easy but it is possible.
Last and not least, keep it all balanced.