Women’s pay gap findings similar in United States and Scandinavia

analyzed earnings for opposite-sex married couples who had their first child between 1978 and 2011, using earnings records from the Social Security Administration and data from the Census Bureau. It includes women who were working two years before their first child was born, no matter how their hours changed afterward.

The pay gap grows with each additional child. The gap does not begin to shrink until children are about 10. For most women, their pay never reaches that of their husbands.

One surprise about the research is that the findings have been so similar in the U.S. and familyfriendly Scandinavia. The two have very different economies and family policies, yet in both places, women’s pay plummets after they have children. Scandinavian nations have generous paid parental leave as part of federal policy, while the U.S. government offers none.

It might be because both types of policies — no paid leave and very long paid leave — lead women to stop working. Economists have found that moderatelength leaves of several months are ideal for women to continue working.

“It seems like there could be a middle ground,” Sandler said, “where you’re given enough leave where you don’t have to quit your employment, but not so much time that you have the incentive to be out of the labor force for a long time.”

Research has shown other policies can help: programs to help women re-enter the labor force; flexibility in when and where work gets done; subsidized child care. It also helps if men take time off after children are born and spend more time on child care, studies show.

The spousal pay gap was largest for those who had children in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the gap appeared to shrink. Mothers who had their first child then were still paid less than their husbands, but the gap started declining when the children were about 5 and recovered by the time they were 14.

Yet in the 2000s, the pattern reversed. The gap is still large when children enter high school, and women do not seem on track to recover their earnings relative to their husbands. It’s unclear why.