Stratification and mobility: men and women's fertility in Russia

Sunnee Billingsley, Demography Unit, Stockholm University

This study assesses how occupational class and downward mobility impact the decision to have a second birth in Russia. Men’s and women’s characteristics are considered independently. Women may have experienced downward mobility more than men due to the dramatic labor market changes in the last decades, which may have pushed women out of the labor force; alternatively, men may have been more downwardly mobile due to tremendous restructuring of the occupational sectors in which men are more concentrated. Using the retrospective Employment and Education Survey this study analyzes mobility trends and whether the greater frequency of downward mobility after transition from communism contributed to decreasing fertility. Moreover, I assess changes in the importance of downward mobility to fertility decisions before and after market reform as well as whether it matters more before or after the first birth. Comparison of findings for men and women sheds insight on the mechanisms involved.