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AbstractLabour 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.

Abstract
This article provides insights into employment decisions of mothers and mothers-to-be in a post-socialist Poland around the entry to the EU. Previous studies for this country continuously pointed to a strong determination among mothers to be employed during the economic transformation, despite increasing obstacles to combining paid work with childrearing over the 1990s. We analyse in-depth interviews to explore women's motives to work for pay. We investigate how these motives are related to women's childbearing experiences and intentions. Our analyses show that motherhood was central in women's lives at this point in Polish history, but females sought to combine it with employment. We also find that women's perceptions about their ability to balance work and motherhood were strongly related to the meanings that they attached to paid work.

Cet article analyse la façon dont les droits à un congé parental rémunéré et non rémunéré affectent l'entrée des femmes en emploi après la naissance du premier enfant et le passage à un deuxième enfant. Nous comparons la Hongrie et la Pologne, deux pays de basse fécondité qui partagent de nombreuses similitudes institutionnelles, culturelles et économiques mais qui diffèrent dans les modalités de congé parental. En Hongrie, les droits sont universels et l'allocation est plus élevée qu'en Pologne où elle est conditionnelle aux ressources. Nos résultats montrent que le congé parental rémunéré entraîne des retards importants dans l'entrée des femmes en emploi, mais encourage le passage à un deuxième enfant. Les Hongroises en congé parental sont plus enclines à concevoir leur deuxième enfant que celles qui travaillent. Quant aux Polonaises, elles ont plus tendance à entrer ou retourner en emploi rapidement après la première naissance. Il semble cependant que le congé parental ait un impact sur le calendrier de la naissance du deuxième enfant, mais pas sur son intensité. Enfin, le niveau d'instruction des femmes ne modifie pas l'effet du congé parental sur le risque de seconde naissance, mais a un effet visible sur le retour à l'emploi après un congé : les femmes très diplômées ont une plus forte propension à reprendre le travail que celles à faible niveau d'instruction, quel que soit le pays.

"In diesem Artikel wird das Erwerbsverhalten von Frauen in Italien und Polen im Umfeld der Geburt des ersten Kindes analysiert. Diese beiden Länder haben hinsichtlich der kulturellen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen viel gemeinsam. Sie weisen jedoch auch zentrale Unterschiede auf, die es uns erlauben, genauer zu untersuchen wie die länderspezifischen Faktoren das Erwerbsverhalten von Frauen im Umfeld der Erstgeburt beeinflussen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass substanzielle Unterschiede im Verhalten über Bildungsgruppen hinweg und zwischen den beiden Ländern bestehen. Wir kommen zu dem Schluss, dass die Bedingungen der Vereinbarkeit von Arbeit und Familie zwar wichtig, aber nicht die einzigen Determinanten für die Entscheidungen der Frauen hinsichtlich der Fertilität und der Erwerbstätigkeit sind. Andere länderspezifische Faktoren sind dabei ebenfalls sehr einflussreich." (Autorenreferat)

This article provides evidence on the relationship between fathers' labor market outcomes and number of children. Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and instrumental variable models, this study examines how family size is related to fathers' probability of employment, number of paid working hours, job rank, wages, and job stability across European countries with diverse social beliefs about men's financial and caregiving responsibilities. Results show that having a larger family is associated with increases in fathers' share of paid working hours, chances of having a permanent contract and a managerial position, and wages. These findings are, however, largely due to selection. Net of selection, fathers tend to increase paid working hours and are more likely to be promoted after childbirth only in countries where they are considered the main income providers, and acceptance of involved fatherhood is weak. The magnitude of these effects is small, however.

This article provides evidence on the relationship between fathers' labor market outcomes and number of children. Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and instrumental variable models, this study examines how family size is related to fathers' probability of employment, number of paid working hours, job rank, wages, and job stability across European countries with diverse social beliefs about men's financial and caregiving responsibilities. Results show that having a larger family is associated with increases in fathers' share of paid working hours, chances of having a permanent contract and a managerial position, and wages. These findings are, however, largely due to selection. Net of selection, fathers tend to increase paid working hours and are more likely to be promoted after childbirth only in countries where they are considered the main income providers, and acceptance of involved fatherhood is weak. The magnitude of these effects is small, however.

AbstractStudies on mothers' time allocation and fertility have predominantly accentuated the importance of paid work for fertility decisions and, in consequence, of policies that allow combining paid work and family life. In this view, work time is typically seen as the time taken away from the family and vice versa. This paradigm does not recognize that mothers may need time for rest and leisure, and that rest and leisure time should be separate from both professional and family time. This study investigates whether the amount of free time available to mothers and maternal leisure behaviors, level of tiredness, and satisfaction with the amount of leisure time are associated with second birth transitions. We use the data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, waves 1–20, and model time to second birth using event history models. We find that a mother's free time, tiredness, leisure activities, and satisfaction with leisure are significantly associated with second birth risk. A mother's education is an important moderator in some of these associations. This study brings attention to the complexity of mothers' personal lives and emphasizes the need to look at them from a fine‐grained perspective.

This study investigates how the changes in labour market conditions and economic growth were associated with fertility before and during the Great Recession in Europe in 2002–2014. In contrast to previous studies, which largely concentrated at the country level, we use data for 251 European regions in 28 European Union (EU) member states prior to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom in January 2020. We apply three-level growth-curve model which allows for a great deal of flexibility in modelling temporal change while controlling for variation in economic conditions across regions and countries. Our findings show that fertility decline was strongly related to unemployment increase; this relationship was significant at different reproductive ages. Deteriorating economic conditions were associated with a stronger decline in fertility during the economic recession as compared with the pre-recession period. This evidence suggests the salience of factors such as broader perception of uncertainty that we could not capture in our models and which rose to prominence during the Great Recession. Furthermore, strongest fertility declines were observed in Southern Europe, Ireland and parts of Central and Eastern Europe, i.e. countries and regions where labour market conditions deteriorated most during the recession period. In Western Europe, and especially in the Nordic countries, fertility rates were not closely associated with the recession indicators. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10680-020-09556-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study investigates how the changes in labour market conditions and economic growth affected fertility before and during the recent economic recession in Europe. To this end, we use data for 258 European regions in 28 European Union (EU) member states and Iceland. We apply three-level growth-curve models which allow for a great deal of flexibility in modelling temporal change and handling hierarchically structured data. Our findings show that fertility decline was strongly related to unemployment increase and that this relationship was significant at all ages. Fertility responded to worsening economic conditions especially in Southern Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe, i.e. two broad regions which were considerably affected by the recession and where welfare policies provided lowest support against poverty and unemployment.