Unskilled mayors and graduate farmers: educational fertility differentials by occupational status and industry in six European countries

Rachel Durham, Wittgenstein Centre (IIASA, VID/ÖAW, WU), Vienna University of Economics and Business
Bilal Barakat, Vienna Institute of Demography

As education’s relationship to fertility is confounded by education’s relationship to social status, a necessary study would disentangle education and occupational status. We achieve this by examining educational fertility differentials within occupational groups and industries and making cross-country comparisons for Austria, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland. We use the recently-released individual-level census samples from the IPUMS. A key advantage of IPUMS is that samples are large enough to contain sizeable numbers of unusual combinations, e.g., university graduates in low-status jobs or primary school dropouts in professional categories, allowing us to determine whether education directly affects fertility net of occupational status. Analyzing pseudo-cohorts, we also examine the ways these factors affect fertility timing. Results show that education has a strong, direct, consistent impact on fertility, net of occupation/industry, even within presumably “family-friendly” industries. We also find country-specific differences in terms of fertility timing, with the relationship primarily related to education rather than occupation.