Job loss can be difficult to navigate for individuals and their families. However, we know very little about the relationship between parental status and job loss. Drawing on rich data from Statistics Canada’s Workplace and Employee Survey, we analyse differences across gender and parental status groups in both risks of job loss and its consequences: re-employment, unemployment, and quality of new jobs relative to those that were lost. We find that parenthood reduces the probability of job loss for prime-age men with young children, but only when employer discretion is involved. This advantage is not shared by otherwise similar mothers or fathers of school-aged children, suggesting that employers are particularly sympathetic to risks to men’s breadwinning role in the early years of fatherhood. Despite similar risks of job loss relative to other groups, mothers of young children are the least likely to be re-employed in the subsequent year, mainly because of their higher levels of labour market withdrawal rather than unemployment. Holding out for “family friendly” work arrangements does not seem to account for this pattern. Overall, our results show that the risks and consequences of job loss strengthen connection to employment for fathers of young children while weakening connection for mothers. Job loss dynamics thus not only reflect but also reinforce asymmetrical breadwinning and caring roles for mothers and fathers of preschool-aged children.

中文翻译：

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为人父母、性别以及失业的风险和后果

对于个人及其家人来说，失业可能很难驾驭。然而，我们对父母身份与失业之间的关系知之甚少。利用加拿大统计局工作场所和员工调查的丰富数据，我们分析了性别和父母身份群体在失业风险及其后果方面的差异：再就业、失业以及新工作相对于失业的质量。我们发现，为人父母可以降低有小孩的壮年男性失业的可能性，但前提是涉及雇主的自由裁量权。学龄儿童的其他相似的母亲或父亲没有这种优势，这表明雇主特别同情男性在父亲早期担任养家糊口角色的风险。尽管相对于其他群体有类似的失业风险，但有幼儿的母亲在接下来的一年中重新就业的可能性最小，这主要是因为她们的劳动力市场退出水平较高，而不是失业。坚持“家庭友好型”工作安排似乎并不能解释这种模式。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，失业的风险和后果加强了孩子父亲与就业的联系，同时削弱了母亲的联系。因此，失业动态不仅反映而且加强了学龄前儿童父母的不对称养家糊口和照顾角色。坚持“家庭友好型”工作安排似乎并不能解释这种模式。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，失业的风险和后果加强了孩子父亲与就业的联系，同时削弱了母亲的联系。因此，失业动态不仅反映而且加强了学龄前儿童父母的不对称养家糊口和照顾角色。坚持“家庭友好型”工作安排似乎并不能解释这种模式。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，失业的风险和后果加强了孩子父亲与就业的联系，同时削弱了母亲的联系。因此，失业动态不仅反映而且加强了学龄前儿童父母的不对称养家糊口和照顾角色。