This study investigates how unemployment is associated with the transition to parenthood among men and women in times of increased instability in the labour market. We provide novel insights into how education and life stage might modify the link between unemployment and fertility. We focus on a Nordic welfare state, Finland, and apply event history models to a rich register sample covering the years 1988–2009 (N = 306,413). We find that unemployment or a weaker labour market attachment tends to delay parenthood among both men and women, but the association is stronger for men. In most groups, the accumulation of unemployment periods is associated with a lower rate of entry into parenthood. However, among young, low-educated women, even long-term or recurring unemployment seems to promote first childbearing, and the generally negative association between unemployment and entry into parenthood does not apply to young, low-educated men. The effect of unemployment is largely mediated by the low income of unemployed persons. Overall, our findings suggest that in a modern, gender-egalitarian welfare society, better employment prospects promote transition to parenthood in a very similar fashion among men and women, but the effects are strongly modified by education and life course stage.

这项研究调查了在劳动力市场不稳定的情况下，失业与男性和女性过渡为父母的方式有何关系。我们提供有关教育和生活阶段如何改变失业与生育之间联系的新颖见解。我们关注芬兰的北欧福利国家，并将事件历史模型应用于涵盖1988-2009年（N = 306,413）的丰富注册样本。我们发现失业或较弱的劳动力市场依恋往往会延迟男女之间的生育关系，但男性之间的联系更紧密。在大多数群体中，失业时间的积累与父母身份的进入率较低有关。但是，在年轻，低学历的女性中，即使长期失业或反复出现的失业似乎也能促进初生，失业与成为父母之间的普遍负相关关系不适用于年轻，低学历的男性。失业的影响在很大程度上是由失业者的低收入造成的。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，在现代的性别平等的福利社会中，更好的就业前景以男女之间非常相似的方式促进了向父母身份的过渡，但是这种影响在教育和人生历程中得到了很大的改变。