European Journal of Population-Revue Europeenne De Demographie最新文献

This paper investigates the association between family formation and the labour market trajectories of immigrants' descendants over the life course. Using rich data from the Trajectories and Origins survey from France, we apply multilevel event history models to analyse the transitions in and out of employment for both men and women by parity. We account for unobserved co-determinants of childbearing and employment by applying a simultaneous-equations modelling. Our analysis shows that women's professional careers are negatively associated with childbirth. There are differences across descendant groups. The female descendants of Turkish immigrants are more likely to exit employment and less likely to re-enter employment following childbirth than women from other groups. The negative impact of childbearing on employment is slightly overestimated among women due to unobserved selection effects. Among men, the descendants of European immigrants are less likely to exit employment after having a child than other descendant groups. The study demonstrates the negative effect of childbearing on women's employment, which is pronounced for some minority groups suggesting the need for further policies to help women reconcile work with family life.

Keyfitz and Leser's life table entropy was proposed to serve as a relative inequality in mortality measure. Entropy considers the variation around the age at death relative to the length of lifespan in a population, allowing comparisons across time and populations. It is used widely in period and cohort applications. Here, we propose extending this measure and present an index that incorporates the history of survival of all cohorts present at a given time, namely the cross-sectional average length of life entropy, or CAL-entropy ( $H_{\text{CAL}}$ ). We decompose cross-population differences of CAL-entropy into the contribution of longevity and lifespan variation, and the change of those differences across time. Our illustrations show that populations are converging regarding lifespan inequality. Lifespan variation holds a noticeable share in the CAL-entropy gap among selected European populations. Longevity held once a pronounced share in CAL-entropy differences and their change, but its influence has receded over the years. The US demonstrates a unique trend where it performs worse across time compared to the selected European populations, and lifespan variation has played a major role in this process. This study signals the importance of lifespan variation in reducing inequality in mortality among developed and longevous populations.

For the German context, we investigate whether the number of children ever born differs between mixed unions (exogamous unions between natives and migrants or migrant descendants) and endogamous unions (unions among co-ethnics). Our theoretical considerations are derived from assimilation theories, which view exogamous unions as indicators of assimilation processes, and the framework on migrant fertility. The migrant (or descendant) partner in an exogamous union may adapt to the majority group, both partners may adapt to each other, or both partners may constitute a selected group in their fertility preferences. However, due to the higher likelihood of conflicts within the partnership and of separation, exogamy may disrupt family formation processes and depress couples' fertility. Drawing on data from the GSOEP (1984-2020), we estimate generalized Poisson regressions. The results reveal that the number of children ever born is higher in exogamous unions than in endogamous native couples. This general pattern largely persists across migrant generations and regions of origin, but we identify gender differences. While fertility in exogamous unions of native women/migrant (descendant) men is not statistically different from fertility in native/native couples, unions of migrant (descendant) women/native men have more children, especially when controlling for socio-demographic confounders. Our results demonstrate that in the German context, exogamy does not lead to fertility disruptions, and is not straightforwardly associated with assimilation to the fertility of the majority group. Instead, differences in gendered partner choice patterns and life-course transitions may influence the number of children exogamous couples have.

Recent demographic changes in Western countries have resulted in higher rates of partnership dissolution and serial partnering, and an increase in childbearing across multiple partnerships. This has given rise to more complex family dynamics including multi-partner fertility (MPF), defined as having biological children with two or more partners. Yet estimates of MPF in the UK have not previously been available. This paper describes an 'indirect approach' to estimate the prevalence of MPF in the UK, for men and women, given different assumptions. The paper additionally explores differences in MPF according to own and parental educational attainment. Amongst those born in Britain in 1970, 12-14% of men and 15-18% of women experienced MPF by age 42, depending on the assumptions made. For most of the cohort, MPF occurred with two different coresidential partners. We have established that MPF is a common family formation in the UK, but there are large educational disparities in MPF prevalence.

The paper studies the association between partners' relative incomes and union dissolution among couples in France. With the increase in dual-earner couples and women's educational level, couples in which women earn more than their partners are structurally becoming more widespread. Because female breadwinning challenges long-lived social norms regarding traditional gender roles, scholars have theorized a higher risk of union dissolution among female-breadwinner couples compared to couples in other income arrangements. We estimate the risk of union dissolution using regression analyses on unique longitudinal data from French administrative sources containing an unconventionally high number of couples (4% of the population) and separation events (more than 100,000), as well as precise and reliable income measurement. Female-breadwinner couples face a higher risk of union dissolution compared to other couple types. This result is robust to various definitions of female breadwinning and controls for partners' employment status. Contrary to recent research on other countries, we find no sign of a fading effect among younger cohorts. However, among younger, cohabiting couples and couples in registered partnerships the risk of union dissolution is lowest when both partners are employed and provide a similar share of the total couple's income, suggesting the emergence of a new profile of stable couples. The female-breadwinner penalty in union dissolution is in place; also in France, it holds among married and cohabiting couples and registered partnerships, across all birth cohorts and levels of household income.

We explore, using a unique survey dataset containing retrospective information on immigrants' legal status, the relationship between previous irregular experience-from arrival up to the first residence permit achievement-and fertility patterns among non-EU immigrant women in Italy. While competing hypotheses explaining migrants' fertility behaviour have been recurrently offered, there is a substantial lack of knowledge on the role of undocumented experience as a contextual barrier in shaping international migrants' family formation processes. We adopt a life-course approach, employing event history analysis and Poisson regression modelling, to investigate how irregularity among immigrant women intertwines with the timing of the first childbirth and the total number of births occurred in Italy. We find that irregular experience-as a time-dependent process-delays the transition to childbirth post-migration. Furthermore, having experienced irregular status reduces completed fertility, offering few possibilities to catch-up over the life-course with fertility levels of women continuously having the legal status. Findings suggest long-lasting effects of irregular status and the potential disruption of migrant's fertility induced by migration policies, admission systems, and regulation factors. The reduced possibility of legal entry channels and lack of migration policies for planning and managing migration into Italy may thus have an impact on family formation trajectories among international immigrant women.

Labour markets in post-industrial countries have been undergoing tremendous transformations in the last two decades, substantially changing the conditions in which young adults take family decisions and raise children. Whilst these changes create new opportunities, they also generate risks which potentially foster uncertain futures and affect individuals' opportunities to earn income, provide care for family members, and make long-term commitments. This Special Issue aims to stimulate the debate on the effects of rapid labour market transformations and growing uncertainty on families in contemporary wealthiest countries. Its articles suggest that economic uncertainty, the threat of unemployment or precarious employment, and financial difficulties lead to fertility postponement and increase the risk of union disruption. These effects intensify when labour market deregulation goes in tandem with labour market dualization and become more pronounced during periods of economic hardship, such as economic recessions or the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the effects of economic activity on family-related behaviours have become less gendered as women increasingly gain economic independence. Finally, it appears that highly educated workers and members of the upper social classes face increasingly better conditions for realising their fertility intentions than their lower-educated counterparts and those of the lower social classes. In this introductory article, we review the theoretical premises and the empirical evidence to provide a comprehensive background on what labour force participation and its conditions imply for family life courses. We then introduce the articles collected in this Special Issue and conclude with a discussion on prospects for future research.