Linking social class inequalities, labor market status, and fertility: an empirical investigation of second births

Abstract

I outline a theoretical background for interpreting the effects of social class on fertility, based on social class and welfare regime theory. Social class differentials lead to different levels of economic wellbeing and security, compatibility of employment and childcare roles, and of gender equality. I hypothesize that class-specific combinations of these variables result in different incentives for and constraints on family formation, and thus different fertility levels. I use the Spanish sample of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions for the years 2004–2015 and event history analysis techniques to analyze second-birth probabilities. A substantial positive effect of social class on second birth probabilities was found. The results also indicated that the mechanisms concerning the effects of class do not work in a monotonic way, and that specific combinations of mechanisms are relevant for each social group. Overall, the analyses showed that social class is not only key to understand intracountry differentials in fertility but also useful to understand the functioning of the welfare regime and its relationship to overall levels of fertility.