Macierzyństwo a stawki płac kobiet w Polsce
Motherhood and Wage Rates for Women in Poland

Summary/Abstract: A low fertility and low participation rates of women in the Polish labor market justify the interest about the wage cost of motherhood. Using panel data from the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions in Poland for the period of 2005–2008, the authors estimate that the wage cost of the first child in the family (measured as the part of potential earnings lost by the mother) amounted to 8% of gross wage, and for the third child it was 15% while the child care for the second child did not involve such cost. The wage cost of the child care decreases with the increase in the age of the mother; this finding may suggest that the existing labour division within the family, marked by a heavier involvement of mothers rather than fathers in child care, is a more significant cause of lower earnings as compared with the depreciation of human capital. The regression results confirm the existence of a positive relationship between the motherhood decision and the expected renumeration.

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