Temporary jobs and first child fertility in Finland

Abstract

This study examines the association between temporary employment and first child fertility among 20- to 44-year-old Finnish employees in partnership. In this endeavour, the moderating effects of employer sector and insecurity of employment situation are considered. The data consist of the Finnish Quality of Work Life Surveys 1984, 1990, 1997, 2003 and 2008, to which information from population register on children born to the respondents is merged. With a relatively high total fertility rate, a high female employment rate and a high prevalence of temporary employment among women at the age of family formation, Finland provides an interesting context for studying the association of temporary employment with fertility. The findings confirm a negative association of temporary employment with transition to parenthood in the year following the survey for both men and women. However, the positive association of the public sector employment on fertility is so strong that female temporaries in the public sector are about as likely to have a child as permanent employees in the private sector. Insecurity of employment situation interacts with the type of contract in the case of women. Among those with high levels of insecurity, temporary employees are more likely to opt for motherhood than permanent employees.

Dans cet article, l'association entre le travail temporaire et la primofécondité (les premières naissances) est examinée parmi les salariés finlandais dans la tranche d’âge 20–44 ans vivent en couple. Dans cette tentative, l'influence modératrice du secteur d'emploi ainsi que l'effet modératrif d'incertitude de la position au marché du travail sont analysés. Cette étude se base sur les Enquêtes sur la qualité de travail finlandais – conduits è 1984, 1990, 1997, 2003 et 2008 – auxquelles on a combiné des informations du registre de la population portant sur la naissance des enfants. La Finlande étant un pays à fécondité élevée où le taux d'emploi féminin est important et où les contrats de durée determinée sont fréquents, elle offre un contexte intéressant pour examiner l'association entre travail temporaire et fécondité. On trouve une association negative entre l'emploi temporaire et naissance d'un premier enfant dans une année suivante autant pour les femmes que pour les hommes. En même temps, l'emploi dans le secteur public a une association positive significante avec la fécondité de sorte que des femmes ayant un contrat temporaraire dans le secteur public ont des probabilités presque pareilles de donner naissance à un premier enfant que les femmes ayant un contrat permanent dans le secteur privé. Pourtant, on trouve, parmi les femmes, une interaction entre l'incertitude sur la position au marché du travail et type de contrat. Parmi les salariées à l'incertitude elevée, celles ayant un contrat temporaire ont plus de probabilités de donner naissance à un enfant pendant l'année suivante que les salariées permanentes.

Keywords:

• temporary employment
• fertility
• insecurity
• employer sector

Mots-clés:

• travail temporaire
• fécondité
• incertitude
• secteur d'emploi

Notes

1. The views of the public sector and private sector female employees aged 20–44 years do not differ at all as regards the value given to family and home (95%) or leisure time (40%) as an very important life content. There is not much difference either in the views on gainful employment as a very important life content (public sector 49%, private sector 55%). Moreover, public sector female employees much more commonly (61%) regard their work as ‘very important and significant’ compared to private sector female employees (30%). (Unpublished tables of the FQWLS 2008 data.)

2. This time series is not fully comparable, but it is the best available for this purpose. For the years 1984–1993, Labour Force Survey (LFS) information concerns the situation in the autumn, but in 1995 and 1996 the data collection took place in the spring. The LFS figures from 1997 on refer to the IV quarter (October–December) to allow for a better comparability with the earlier data of 1984–1993. The data collected in the autumn do not include schoolchildren and students in summer jobs, and thus the figures are lower than the year average.

3. HCA is paid for parents whose child aged under three years is not in public day care. In addition to the flat-rate compensation (EUR 383 a month in 2010), supplements are paid according to the number and age of other children in the family and family income. Many municipalities also pay additional municipal supplements (EUR 243 a month, on the average, in 2010) (The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, 2011, p. 259).

4. Maternity allowance equals to about 90% of the previous income, parental allowance to some 75% for the first 30 days and about 70% thereafter.