Motherhood,
Employment & Wages

Looking beyond the wage gap

How is motherhood associated with employment and wages in Canada and the United States? This undergraduate research compares labour-market outcomes across two countries with different parental-leave and childcare policy environments.

The central question goes beyond how much working mothers earn: differences in employment also shape whose wages are observed. Examining both outcomes provides a fuller view of the motherhood penalty.

Bringing two survey sources into one framework

I used Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS) and U.S. Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) microdata covering 2011–2024. I combined Canadian files and selected March observations to align survey timing, then processed household and demographic variables for cross-country comparison.

Different patterns in employment and wages

The country-specific employment models associate motherhood with a larger reduction in employment probability in Canada: −6.29 percentage points, compared with −4.98 in the United States.

The paper’s OLS estimates show a larger negative wage association in the United States. In the U.S. Heckman model, the association remains negative and statistically significant (Mother coefficient −0.0084, p < 0.01; Table 2, column 4), though smaller in magnitude than the OLS estimate. In Canada, the wage estimate becomes statistically indistinguishable from zero in the selection model; this does not establish that no wage difference exists.

The Canadian exit analysis also finds a positive association between motherhood and reported voluntary exit. This offers a further perspective on participation patterns, rather than proof of an individual’s preferences or a specific policy mechanism.

From cross-country data to a complete research paper

• Downloaded and combined cross-country survey data, including selecting March observations for the Canadian sample.
• Processed household and demographic variables and used Stata to estimate models and export regression tables.
• Interpreted employment, wage and exit results alongside the literature and independently wrote the complete paper.

My thesis advisor provided key guidance on model selection and throughout the research process.

Connecting participation, earnings and interpretation

The research shows why employment and wages need to be considered together when studying labour-market inequality. A wage comparison among workers captures only one part of the picture.

It also develops analytical skills relevant to insights work: combining data sources, making variables comparable, applying models to distinct questions and translating statistical results into a clear argument. The policy comparison provides context for interpretation, while the evidence remains associational.

Interpreting the results in context

This observational study identifies associations rather than the causal effects of motherhood or particular policies. Differences in survey definitions and measurement affect cross-country comparability. The regression results depend on model specifications, and the Heckman approach additionally relies on its selection assumptions and the youngest-child-age exclusion restriction.