Her class and his class: Does social class matter for fertility?

Abstract

This work explores the association between fertility behaviour and occupational social classes, over and above educational and income resources. We use European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data, pooling the longitudinal component for fourteen countries between 2005 and 2017. We compare the effect of the female partner's social class with that of the male partner on the likelihood of having a child, distinguishing between the effect on the first and the second child. We find consistent evidence that, vis-à-vis income and education, occupational social class does play an additional role in fertility behaviour. However, it does so differently depending on the sex of the partner and the different parities considered. Our findings indicate that when her partner is employed, the occupational social class she belongs to becomes a more significant factor and plays a pivotal role in influencing fertility behaviour.