ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the impact of employment stability on fertility intention and behavior. University teachers were interviewed to understand their fertility intentions and behavior by addressing their present employment status and transition to having a first and second child. Information was randomly collected from 174 teachers from four universities that work in public and national university in Bangladesh by following a systematic set of structured interviews questionnaire.. Quantitative technique of data analysis especially logistic regressions model was used. The finding reveals that fertility intention is likely to be allied to employment stability. Respondents who reported a strong desire to have a child in the next two years consider their employment stability as one of the determining factors. Entrance into parenthood also varied by the gender of respondents and employment stability and this is mostly related to motherhood than fatherhood. Employment stability has a significant impact on the lower probability of remaining childless than a higher probability of preferring a child.
Key words: Employment stability, fertility intention, fertility behavior, parenthood.
Different studies explored the relationship between economic fluctuation and fertility, and found a negative relationship between economic prosperity and fertility levels (Pailhe and Solaz, 2012). Recent studies considered employment instability and the timing of fertility, and found a positive correlation between economic fluctuation and fertility (Ciganda, 2013). Individuals with jobs are more likely to realize their fertility intentions (Spéder and Kapitany, 2009). With different economic and demographic dimensions, the relationship was tried and fertility transition was explained by different variables such as income, education and mortality. Individuals with more income level consider more bearing cost for raising children and more investment when there are fewer children. With the increased technological advancement and incentive for human capital investment, fertility is declined. Technological improvement contributes to reducing infant mortality (Filoso and Papagni, 2010). Becker (1991) explained the relationship between income and fertility and emphasized on the trade-off between quantity and quality of children. Following this argument, maintaining quality in raising children needs time and to have satisfaction in it, requirements such as employment stability must be fulfilled before deciding to become parents (Pailhe and Solaz, 2012). It is also important to explain the timing of births rather than completed fertility (Ciganda, 2013; Rondinelli et al., 2010). Considering female employment and fertility, women’s income level is negatively associated with having children and it has a strong negative effect in the timing of the first, second and third birth (Rondinelli et al., 2010, Schmitt, 2012). Female labor market participation and fertility timing are joint decisions and both cases cannot be analyzed separately (Schmitt, 2012). In demographic research, fertility is basically explained on the basis of women’s socio-demographic characteristics like education, age, income etc. In most of the previous demographic research, fertility analysis was female oriented and men’s role in fertility was entirely neglected.
Some studies suggest understanding of men’s fertility level by their employment status (Tragaki and Bagavos, 2014). Most of the studies regarding employment status and fertility level were conducted in the context of developed countries; but there are a few studies conducted on this relationship in the context of developing countries. However fertility varies from one country to another and across areas within a country. In developing countries, women position in employment is different from women in developed countries and women’s participation in the labor market is less than that of women in developed countries. Nowadays women's participation in the labor force is rising with progress in developing countries. Women participation in labor market declines fertility with increasing income (Mammen and Paxson, 2000). Bangladesh is a developing country and it has a growing economy. The country has achieved a considerable fertility decline and the trends of fertility decline started since the last two-three decades. There were many factors interconnected with fertility decline. Employment status may be a considerable factor to explore fertility behavior in the country, since women are gradually engaging into the labor market and are participating in higher education. The timing of a birth may vary regarding women’s employment status and employment status can be a determinant of the birth timing (Rabbi, 2013). Why everyone anxious about fertility and fertility decision is not an individual’s choice? However, the discussion on fertility receives public attention and it’s not a personal issue (Esping-Andersen, 2013). Fertility intention is an intention which indicates the actual plan to have a child (Miller et al., 2004). Fertility intention is one of the factors of fertility that deals with a strong probability to have a child (Schoen et al., 1999).
Spéder and Kapitány (2009) consider fertility intention as an expected intended family size; intention to have the child; intention to have one or more children within a definite year or time; childbearing intention and it’s level of degree; and if the intention of couples coincide or not. This study also aims to investigate how employment stability influence childless individual’s intention to have a child in the future and individuals with one child intend to have more children in the future. In this study, fertility intention refers to a childless individual’s aim to have a first child and the intention of an individual with a child intend to have another in the future and whether they intend to have within the following two years. Miller and Pasta (1995) found that fertility intention varies between childlessness and having children among individuals and their intentions depend on their intent to have children or not. Several studies show that employment stability impacts on couple’s fertility intention in many countries. Most of the studies were conducted in developed countries. Studies regarding this issue in Bangladesh may bring interesting results and findings since this country has more population and the fertility rate has also been declined. At the same time, the scope of employment in this country has been increased in private sector and public sector. Comparatively, employment is more secured in public sector than the private sector. This study incorporated public university to explore how teachers working in the university with stable job intend to have children in future. This can help the employment stability as one of the indicators contributing to fertility intentions and further fertility of Bangladesh. This study includes female and male faculty from a national university and public university, seeking their fertility intentions with immediate response (want a child now) and with the long responses (intend to have a child within the next two years).
Previous studies and conceptual framework
Literature review is important in a research study and it helps to find research gap, provides a framework and similar research results (Creswell, 1994). In recent years, the research on fertility intentions is growing up (Ajzen and Klobas, 2013; Dibaba, 2008; Loilier and Vignoli, 2011), and lots of researches tried to link social or economic uncertainty and fertility intentions (Fahlén and Oláh, 2015; Kreyenfeld, 2005; Modena et al., 2012; Testa and Basten, 2014). Though most of the studies are developed countries based, it carries a big appeal in developing countries around the globe. Fertility intentions for both men and women are determined by several factors such as female employment (Brewster and Rindfuss, 2000; Sleebos, 2003), the age of women, the number of children, place of residence, education, and exposure to media (Westoff and Bankole, 1995). Rindfuss et al. (1988) indicated that women’s unemployment in the United States had no impact on first births, whereas men’s unemployment seemed to discourage early parenthood. A Belgian analysis (Impens, 1989) suggested a negative effect of women’s unemployment, and a British study (Sullingham and Falkingham, 1991) expressed that men who had experienced unemployment during young adult years relatively often had become fathers by age 23. This paper tries to present the relationship between employment stability or security or certainty in the fertility intentions, where very few kinds of literature literatures have explored. In the study of fertility intentions, there are two kinds of theoretical frameworks: microeconomic and micro-sociological approach.
The Micro-sociological approach assumes that employment status can impact indirectly on intentions of having a child by depending on partnership quality and conflicts. Likewise, the microeconomic approach assumes that to have one or more children is dependent on the costs and benefits of a child (Cavalli, 2012). In the study of employment status and fertility intention or behavior, a lot of studies consider the microeconomic approach discussed by Becker (1991). One of the most dominant models is provided by Becker (1991) who explained fertility on the basis of income growth by coining two concepts, quality and quantity (Younger, 2006). Becker explained fertility model by basis of two key concepts: quality and quantity (Younger, 2006). First, Becker explained the model of fertility that to have a child or not is a plan that concentrates on the use of scarce resources. A child has value in the social and economic terms (Özcan et al., 2010). Individuals concentrate on quality and quantity to have a child. The more the income level of parents is raised, the more the demand for children (kreyenfeld, 2005). The fertility intention of parents relies on “trade-off” between the cost and benefit of children. The cost of children can be assumed one hand monetary but on the other hand, it is a time investment. The level of income has two different effects: income effect and price effect. Income effect indicates the income parents expand on demanding a child and the price effect states the increasing amount of time for a child. In terms of price effects, to rear a child the parents may lose employment and in income effects, to lose an employment the parents can reduce intention to have a child. Individual’s employment is a precondition for the formation of a family or the childbirth (Modena et al., 2012).
The price effects of a child may vary between men and women. The price effects of rearing a child are basically related to women than men. Likewise, the opportunity cost of rearing the child also varies from country to country. In those countries where child care facilities are extensive, rearing costs of child are lower. In Scandinavia and France, study found that the result of the effect of income on fertility is quite similar for both men and women but this result may be different in those countries where there are fewer opportunities of rearing a child, thereby combining employment with child-rearing (Andersson et al., 2004). In West Germany husband or male partners are the key income provider in a family (Kurz et al., 2005). Similarly, in Bangladesh women have limited power autocracy due to patriarchal ideology (Sultana, 2011). However, this study assumes that there may be a positive relationship between employment stability and fertility intention for childless individuals to have a first child and having one child individuals to have more child:
H1a: Employment stability may impact directly on men’s transition to fatherhood.
The operational definitions of transition to fatherhood can vary by research and researcher. The term transition to parenthood indicates a transformation in individuals and the family (Habib, 2012). In this study, Fatherhood is defined as the state of being a father. The transition to fatherhood is defined as the state of a father having one or more children. A stable employment may impact childless men to have a child and those having one child to have more children. Similarly, the hypothesis for women is:
H1b: Employment stability may impact directly on women’s transition to motherhood.
The term transition to motherhood is presented as women who have planned to have a child within the next two years and who have experience in having the child (Deutsch et al., 1988). In this study, motherhood is defined as the state of being a mother and the transition to motherhood is defined as the state of a mother having one or more children. Stable employment may impact childless women to have a first child and those having one child to have more children. When a woman has a secured employment, the more likely she may have a positive intention to have a first child or more children. The linkage between employment security and stability with the fertility of women is too sophisticated (Cavalli, 2012). Next, one reason which may influence fertility intentions to have one or more children is stable employment bearers. According to the theory of the value of children, two kinds of individual’s try to avoid uncertainty: one is who faces a strong uncertainty and the other is who has a few opportunities to access different means to reduce uncertainty (Friedman et al., 1994). Unstable employment status of couples is a means to minimize uncertainty in family formation or life. Employment instability implies a low opportunity of employment, which is going back and forth, which has its own impact on the probability of having a child (Cavalli, 2012).
In Denmark and Germany, male unemployment is related to a postponement of first and second childbearing than female’s unemployment; both have a strong educational background (Kreyenfeld and Andersson, 2014). However, this study assumes that after being engaged in a stable employment due to the tendency of saving, career thought and long leave for scholarship the first birth of an individual may delay. Thus the hypothesis is:
H2 considered that the tendency to save, career thought and long leave for the scholarship may delay their first birth or possibility to have more children.
The demand to have a child is dependent on parent’s employment conditions and they make their fertility choices by considering the economic situation. If couples engaged in an employment and earn money, then the intention to have a child also increase (Vignoli et al., (2012), while female postpone birth due to unstable job (Modena et al. 2012). Similarly, precarious job may negatively impact the intention to have children both for men and women (Hanappi et al., 2012). In Italian settings, the intention to have a child or childbearing decision of working women is likely affected by job protection (Prifti and Vuri, 2012). Also, employment status or characteristic could have effect on first and second birth intentions (Sinyavskaya and Billingsley, 2013). However, the link between employment instability and fertility intention is negatively associated because persons can hardly improve their job security. However in a stable employment, persons take into account their job security and are not willing to postpone birth, rather they may have an intention to have the child as well within the following two years because of employment stability. Thus the hypothesis is:
H3: A childless person may have an intention to have a first child and go through the transition to parenthood when having stable employment.
An employment where one has a low security indicates low future savings too and in childbearing, an individual also takes into account his future savings (Cavalli, 2012). Individuals also consider future economic sources security to make any long-term decisions (Oppenheimer, 1988). Thus if individuals consider that they have a secured and stable employment then they may prefer a higher number of children over their life course. Therefore another hypothesis is coined below:
H4 Men and women may prefer a higher number of children over life course for employment stability.
The data
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and statistics (2012), Bangladesh has 34 public universities with 9962 teachers and 76 colleges under national university with 1910 teachers. To understand the nexus of this study, I selected two universities Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet Agriculture University (SAU) as the public universities and two colleges Murari Chand (MC) College, Sylhet and Sylhet Govt. Women College (SGWC) under the national universities in Bangladesh. Married faculty members (men and women) were the primary sources of information. This study selected the two public and national universities because faculty members are joined as permanent and sometimes being permanent depends on the availability of vacant post on a specific level, particularly at lecturer level. At the time of the study survey, married faculty members of these institutions were a total of 583 (sample size from respected authorities were collected). In this study, the sample consisted of 174 men and women aged 25-45 who responded to the interview questionnaire. In this study, cluster sampling design was used, to minimize costs (Kothari, 2005) and the simple random sample was used for each cluster to collect data (Jr, 1979). The universities whether it is public or national constitute the primary sampling units. A specific university constitutes the second stage sampling units and a specific department was selected as the third stage of sampling unit. Finally, teachers were selected as the ultimate sampling units of this study.
Teachers of both universities were considered as the population size and selected a representative sample systematically. I adapted the following formula from Islam (2011) to calculate the sample size. Sample size
(95% confidence interval for the normal variant value (Z=1.96); 10% admissible error (d=0.10); and 50% as admissible percentage). Fortunately, information was collected from 174 (113 and 61 respondents from the public university and national university respectively) respondents. A proportionate sampling technique was also used and it is perhaps the most widely used method of allocation (Islam, 2011). The study made use of social survey method and a structured interview questionnaire with both open and closed-end. The structured interview questionnaire was the most important instrument, as it was used to collect most of the quantitative information on employment status, fertility intention, and behavior. This instrument was used to extract quantitative information on respondent’s socio-demographic, socio-economic characteristics, issues relating to the employment stability and fertility behavior. Respondents were asked to provide their opinions and reactions to different questions on employment stability and fertility intention and behavior.
Measures and variables
Previous studies tried to explored fertility behavior by considering employment instability or insecurity (Vignoli et al., 2012; Bernardi et al., 2008; Hanappi et al., 2016), economic security or insecurity (Tang, 2001; Modena et al., 2012), job displacement (Huttunen and Kellokumpu, 2016), and employment uncertainty (Hanappi et al., 2017). This study considers employment stability and university faculty to study fertility intention and behavior. First and foremost, both the public and national university faculty members get equal salary on the basis of the pay scale according to their occupational status. Secondly, they all have a stable job. So, this study tries to present the research gap, which is whether and to what extent employment stability impacts fertility intention and behavior. In this study, fertility intention was measured by the following questions: ‘Do you intend to have one child or more in future?’ The response options varied from 1 = yes to 0 = no. ‘Do you intend to have a child within the following two years?’ the response varied from 1=certainly to 5 not now, think about it later. The measure was reversed before further analyses were conducted. After that, a dummy variable was created, measuring certainly or probability = 1. The rest of the respondents were given the value 0 on the variable. The age of getting married were measured by standard survey interview questions. Gender was measured as a dummy variable, reflecting whether the respondent was male (1) or female (0). The variables for religion was measured given the value 1= Muslim, 2= Hindu and 3= others. The variable for educational attainment, which is used in this study, was measured by value 1= bachelor's degree, 2= master's degree, and 3=PhD. Educational attainment was measured as a dummy variable, reflecting whether respondent had less than master's degree (1) or higher degree (0). The variable for employment stability, which is used in this study, was meant by the group of employees who are able to keep the same job for a long time before retirement. A dummy variable was created, reflecting respondents who were employed in public university were coded as 1, whereas national university was coded as 0. The variable income is captured, respondent’s monthly income, by the employment designations.
According to Bangladesh Government National Pay Scales 2015, a lecturer of the public and national universities gets the salary in keeping with grade 9 by the 8th pay scale monthly basic salary of 22,000.00 takas. An assistant professor gets the salary in grade 6 by 8th pay scale monthly basic salary of 35,500.00 taka. Associate professors get the salary in grade 4 by the 8th pay scale monthly basic salary of 50,000.00 takas and a Professor gets the salary in grade 3 by the 8th pay scale monthly basic salary of 56,000.00 takas. In this case, the basic salary of the respondents was included because some facilities like house rents vary to the city to city. Fertility behavior was measured by Likert 5-items scale because it’s the most frequently used scale in the social survey research (Baker, 1994). Fertility behavior was a 5-item measure that includes the following questions: ‘Do you agree that stable employment impact on the lower probability of remaining childless?’, ‘Do you agree that stable employment impacts on a higher probability of preferring child?’, ‘Do you agree that stable employment cannot impact directly on men's transition to fatherhood?’, ‘Do you agree that stable employment can directly impact women's transition to motherhood?’. Lastly, ‘Do you agree that the tendency to save, career thought and long leave for scholarship may delay first birth or have more?’ The responses were 1 =strongly disagreed, 2 =disagreed, 3 =neutral, 4 = agreed, 5 = strongly agreed. The responses were cumulated on a scale measuring practical support, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70. The reliability of the measure (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.70) was acceptable (Tavakol and Dennick, 2011). For further analysis, the variables were coded into a dummy variable reflecting response agreed received the value 1 and all other responses the value 0.
Table 1 describes the descriptive statistics of the variables as socio-economic, socio-demographic background, fertility intention, employment stability and fertility behavior. One-third portion of the total respondents was women. Most of the respondents were Muslims and few were Hindu and believers of other faith. 61.5 and 38.5% of the respondents were from the public university and national university respectively. Most of the respondent’s educational attainment was master’s level and very few had bachelor’s degree. The mean age of all respondents (male and female) was around 34 years and ranged between 27 and 46 years. The age of getting married was 26 and 30 for female and male respectively. According to respondents, 93% had one or more children and 81% were childless. Among the respondentswho children, only 9.8% had their first child before their current employment. More interestingly, 43.7% had a first child after having employment. Those who expressed to have gender preferences comprised only of 0.6% and most of the respondents had no gender preferences. Next, respondent’s occupational status was distributed as follows: 2.3% were professor; 11.5%, associate professors; 28.7%, lecturers; and half of the respondent’s were assistant professors. The mean of the monthly income of the respondents was 33758 taka (Bangladeshi currency).
Generally, the proportion of respondents who had an intention to have a child was high (Table 1). For example, 62.2% of the respondents proposed to have one child or more in the future. When replied affirmatively, 29.7% had expressed probability to have one child or more in the following two years. 17.2% respondent said ‘certainly’ and 20.1% had opined ‘not sure, will think about it later’ as regards having one or more children in the following two years. Generally speaking, on average, 4.44% respondents affirmatively agreed on the statement that stable employment have effect on the lower probability of remaining childless. Respondents around 3.94% positively agreed with the statement that stable employment may have effect on the higher probability of preferring a child. Regarding the statements that stable employment may not directly have effect on men's transition to fatherhood, on average 3.86 respondents positively replied; while 4.19 respondents expressed that stable employment may directly have effect on women's transition to motherhood. Lastly, on average, 4.15% respondents agreed that the tendency to save, career thought and long leave for scholarship may delay first birth or to have more children in their life course.
Bivariate correlations
Table 2 presents the bivariate correlations (Pearson’s r) among the variables of this study and all variables are both positively and negatively connected with each other. In particular, employment correlates positively with most of the measurements of fertility intention and behavior included in the analyses. Among the eighteen bivariate correlation coefficients, eight are highly significant. Income is, however, more closely linked with the fertility intention and behavior indicator and only two of the six coefficients are insignificant. The variable age is also almost positively paralleled with fertility intention and behavior variables and coefficients are significant too. Besides, the variable employment is correlated with fertility intention and behaviors indicator. Among the eighteen bivariate correlation coefficients, ten are highly significant and the rests on the variables are not significant strongly. However, all of the variables of the socio-economic and socio-demographic background are significantly associated with the fertility intention and fertility behavior (Table 2).
Multivariate analysis
The first model in Table 3 presents the results of the logistic regression coefficient (B) and Odds ratio (Exp B). In these results, the odds ratio is 1.56 which indicates the odds that a respondent intents to have a child is 1 times higher for the respondent who is employed in a public university compared to a respondent who is employed with national university. In the second model (Table 3), the result displays that employment stability impacts upon the fertility behavior of the respondents. The results indicate that stable employment and lower probability of remaining childless are positively connected, that is, the odds ratio of employment stability and lower probability of remaining childless is 1.24. This indicates that when holding all the other predictors constant, public university respondent is 1.24 times more likely to have a lower probability of childlessness than the national university respondent. This association was significant (with 1 d.f., p < 0.05). The result delineates that stable employment and higher probability of preferring a child are positively linked. That is, the odds ratio of employment stability and a higher probability of preferring a child is 0.77 and it indicates that when holding all the other predictors constant, public university respondent is 0.77 times more likely to prefer a higher probability of a child than the national university respondent; however this association was insignificant (with 1 d.f., p > 0.05).
The result reveals that stable employment and men's transition to fatherhood are also positively linked. The odds ratio of stable employment and men's transition to fatherhood is 0.90 which indicates that when holding all the other predictors constant, public university respondent is 0.90 times more likely to transit to fatherhood than respondents from national university; but this association was also insignificant (with 1 d.f., p > 0.05). Similarly, the result demonstrates that stable employment and women's transition to motherhood are positively affiliated. That is, the odds ratio of stable employment and women's transition to motherhood is 0.89 which indicates that when holding all the other predictors constant, public university respondent is 0.89 times more likely to transit to the motherhood than the national university respondent; and this association was significant too (with 1 d.f., p < 0.05). Lastly, the result indicates that tendency to save, career thought, long leave for scholarship and delay of having first birth or to have more children are positively linked. The odds ratio of the tendency to save, career thought, long leave for scholarship and delay to have first birth or to have more children is 0.43 and it indicates that when holding all the other predictors constant, public university respondent is 0.43 times more likely to delay first birth or to have more children compared to the national university respondent due to the tendency to save, career thought, long leave for scholarship; and this association was significant too (with 1 d.f., p < 0.05) (Table 3).
The primary aim of this paper is to advance the understanding on the impact of employment stability on fertility intentions and behavior. Many research studies regarding employment status and fertility considered only female wages (Rondinelli et al., 2010), occupational characteristics (Boca and Locatelli, 2006), therefore female-oriented result’s conclusions would be incomplete (Begall, 2013). According to a study, male fertility is considered as an important topic in the field of human reproduction (Tragaki and Bagavos, 2014). The empirical results of the analysis show that stable employment of the respondents is stronger predictors of the fertility intention to have one or more child in the future. Additionally, the findings indicated that the public university employee is more likely allied to have a child than the national university employee. Studies found that employment arrangement had impact over a first child (Santarelli, 2011) and a stable career may impact the probability to have a child soon (Tölke and Diewald, 2003). Secured employment satisfaction and income have impact men’s intention to have a first child (Berninger et al., 2011). Studies also found that women’s employment situation may not directly impact childbearing intentions (Berninger et al., 2011). Employed women have lower first birth rates compared to women who are unemployed (Santarelli, 2011). The intention of having first birth primarily depends on women’s economic situation and having the second one is dependent on upon the men’s economic condition (Laplante et al., 2015).
From the results, it may be said that stable employment have impacts on having a first child or more in the future and the intention to have a child within the following two years. In this study, some hypotheses considering literature review and conceptual framework were proposed and three out of five hypotheses were confirmed with significant levels as well as two were confirmed but the associations were not at a significant level using this study data. Generally speaking, the first hypothesis result indicates that stable employment and lower probability of remaining childless are positively associated with significance level. So it may be said that a stable employment has a significance impact on the lower probability of remaining childless. Studies found that in the situation of unstable employment, men delay the transition to fatherhood, and a stable career have impact on the possibility to have a child soon (Tölke and Diewald, 2003); in Germany unstable employment inhibits the transition to parenthood (Schmitt, 2012). Similarly, the second hypothesis result indicates that stable employment and higher probability of preferring a child are positively integrated. Employment stability impacts the higher probability of preferring a child. This association has no significance and so it may be concluded that employment stability has no significant impact on the high probability of preferring a child.
The third hypothesis result indicates that stable employment and men's transition to fatherhood are also positively interconnected. A stable employment impacts on men’s transition to fatherhood but this association has no significance and it may conclude that employment stability has no significant impact on men’s transition to fatherhood. Studies found that stable career influences men to have a child soon (Tölke and Diewald, 2003); secured employment satisfaction and income have effect on men’s intention to have first child (Berninger et al., 2011). A stable career impacts men’s transition to fatherhood (Keizer et al., 2008). Third hypothesis result indicates that stable employment and women's transition to motherhood are also positively connected. A stable employment impacts women’s transition to motherhood with significant level. So it may be concluded that employment stability has significant impact on women’s transition to motherhood. Studies found that women’s employment situation may not directly impacts the childbearing intentions (Berninger et al., 2011); employed women have a lower first birth rates than the women who are unemployed (Santarelli, 2011). Women who are engaged in paid employment are more likely to have children than those who are without paid employment (Eskild et al., 2016); women having university degrees and basically employed are more likely to have a first child early (Ibáñez, 2010). A different study found that a stable career impact women to remain childless (Keizer et al., 2008), that is more work hours impacts a fewer birth outcome for employed women (Shreffler and Johnson 2013).
In Germany and in the UK, highly educated women who have stable employments delay in having children (Schmitt, 2012). Studies found that in Germany, unstable employment inhibits the transition to parenthood (Schmitt, 2012). The last hypothesis result indicates that while having a stable employment, respondent’s delay to have children in order to save, for career thought, to enable long leave for scholarship. Results show that the employment stability is an important factor that impacts fertility intention and behavior. However, to be a parent is an inherently endogenous process and it’s related to some factors, such as, education, employment and partner selection (Esping-Andersen 2007). To conclude, employment stability is one of the dominant factors that influence fertility intention and behavior. There were some limitations regarding this study. The main limitation of this research was that it considered only university faculties. Different results could emerge from a study of the general Bangladesh population. Secondly, the sample size was small and very few relevant works of literature on stable employment and fertility behavior were found on Bangladesh. Nevertheless, there is hope that this study may contribute to understanding the dynamics of fertility behavior by incorporating a large sample in developing countries like Bangladesh.
The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.
The author would like to express his gratitude to Dr. Shah Md. Atiqul Haq for the support during the period of conducting this research. He is also grateful to the Department of Sociology and SUST for their financial and practical support. Last but not least, the author likes to thank his mother for love and inspiration and his elder brother, Shah Kawsar Ahmed, for the unfailing support he provides.
REFERENCES
|
Andersson G, Duvander AZ, Hank K (2004). Do child-care characteristics influence continued childbearing in Sweden? An investigation of the quantity, quality, and price dimensions. Journal of European Social Policy, 14:407-418.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Ajzen I, Klobas J (2013). Fertility intentions: An approach based on the theory of planned behavior. Demographic Research, 29(8):203-232.
|
|
|
|
Bangladesh Government National Pay Scales, 2015.
|
|
|
|
Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and statistics, 2012,
View
|
|
|
|
Baker TL (1994). Doing Social Research. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
|
|
|
|
Becker G (1991). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
|
|
|
|
Begall K (2013). How do educational and occupational resources relate to the timing of family formation? A couple analysis of the Netherlands. Demographic Research, 29(34):907-936.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Bernardi L, Kla¨rner A, Lippe HVD (2008). Job Insecurity and the Timing of Parenthood: A Comparison between Eastern and Western Germany. Eur J Population, 24:287-313.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Berninger I, Weiß B, Wagner M (2011). On the links between employment, partnership quality, and the intention to have a first child: The case of West Germany. Demographic Research, 24(24):579-610.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Boca DD, Locatelli M (2006). The Determinants of Motherhood and Work Status: A Survey. IZA Discussion, P 2414.
|
|
|
|
Brewster K, Rindfuss R (2000). Fertility and women's employment in industrialized nations. Annual Review of Sociology, 26:271-296.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Cavalli L (2012). Fertility intentions of employed mothers in Italy: Does the choice of public versus private sector matter? Working paper series, Department of Economics, University of Verona, 27.
|
|
|
|
Ciganda D (2013). Employment Instability and Fertility Timing in France: An application of turbulence to Labor market trajectories. International union for the scientific study of population xxvii international population conference busan, Korea.
|
|
|
|
Creswell JW (1994). Research design: qualitative and quantitative approaches. Sage publication.
|
|
|
|
Deutsch FM, Ruble DN, Fleming A, Brooks-Gunn J, Stangor C (1988). Information-seeking and maternal self-definition during the transition to motherhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(3):420-431.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Dibaba, Y (2008). Factors Influencing Women's Intention to Limit Child Bearing in Oromia, Ethiopia. Ethiop. J. Health Dev, 22(3):28-33.
|
|
|
|
Eskild A, Herdlevær IE, Strøm-Roum EM, Monkerud L, Grytten J (2016). Childbirth or termination of pregnancy: does paid employment matter? A population study of women in reproductive age in Norway. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 95:513-518.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Esping-Andersen G (2007). Family Formation and Family Dilemmas in Contemporary Europe. Madrid: Fundacion BBVA.
|
|
|
|
Esping-Andersen G (2013). Why fertility Matters: theory and empirical research. Social Studies Collection, 36.
|
|
|
|
Fahlén S, Oláh L (2015). The impact of economic uncertainty on childbearing intentions in Europe. Families and societies working paper series, 36.
|
|
|
|
Filoso V, Papagni E (2010). Fertility choice and financial development. Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 56795, 22:49 UTC.
|
|
|
|
Friedman D, Hechter M, Kanazawa S (1994). A theory of the value of children. Demography, 31(3):375-401.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Habib C (2012). The transition to fatherhood: A literature review exploring paternal involvement with identity theory. Journal of Family Studies, 18(2-3):4-21.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Hanappi D, Ryser VA, Bernardi L, LeGoff JM (2012). Precarious work and the fertility intentions-behavior link: An analysis based on the Swiss household panel data. Swiss national foundation, working paper.
|
|
|
|
Hanappi D, Ryser VA, Bernardi L, LeGoff JM (2017). Changes in employment uncertainty and the fertility intention–realization link: An analysis based on the Swiss household panel. European Journal Population, 33:381-407.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Hanappi D, Ryser VA, Bernardi L (2016). The role of attitudes towards maternal employment in the relationship between job quality and fertility intentions. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 6(1):192-219.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Huttunen K, Kellokumpu J (2016). The effect of job displacement on couples' fertility decisions. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(2):403-442.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Ibá-ez M (2010). Fertility, female participation in employment and reconciliation policies in Spain, REC-WP 13.
|
|
|
|
Impens KK (1989). The impact of female unemployment on fertility in Flanders. Population and Family in Low Countries, 18:119-140.
|
|
|
|
Islam MN (2011). An Introduction to Research Methods. Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh: Mullick & Brothers. Second edition, ISBN 9843000014223.
|
|
|
|
Jr, HMB (1979). Social Statistics. McGraw-Hill Series in Sociology. ISBN 0070661758.
|
|
|
|
Keizer R, Dykstra PA, Jansen MD (2008). Pathways into childless: Evidence of gendered life course dynamics. Journal of Biosocial Science, 40:863-878.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Kothari CR (2005). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Age International Publishers.
|
|
|
|
Kreyenfeld M (2005). Economic uncertainty and fertility Postponement Evidence from German panel data. MPRA working paper, 034.
|
|
|
|
Kreyenfeld M, Andersson G (2014). Socioeconomic differences in the unemployment and fertility nexus: Evidence from Denmark and Germany. Advances in Life Course Research, 21:59-73.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Kurz K, Steinhage N, Golsch K (2005). Case study Germany. Global competition, uncertainty and the transition to adulthood. In: H.-P. Blossfeld, E. Klijzing, M. Mills, & K. Kurz (Eds.), Globalization uncertainty and youth society. London: Routledge. pp. 51-81.
|
|
|
|
Laplante B, Morency JD, Street MC (2015). Policy and fertility: A study of childbearing behaviour in Canada, Inédit / Working paper, 03.
|
|
|
|
Loilier AR, Vignoli D (2011). Fertility Intentions and Obstacles to their Realization in France and Italy. Population-E, 66(2):361-390.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Mammen K, Paxson C (2000). Women's Work and Economic Development. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4):141-164.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Miller WB, Pasta DJ (1995). Behavioral Intentions: Which Ones Predict Fertility Behavior in Married Couples. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25(6):530-555.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Miller WB, Lawrence JS, Pasta DJ (2004). A framework for modelling fertility motivation in couples. Population Studies, 58(2):193-205.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Modena F, Rondinelli C, Sabatini F (2012). Economic insecurity and fertility intentions: the case of Italy. MPRA Paper 36353: 10:05 UTC.
|
|
|
|
Oppenheimer VK (1988). A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology, 94(3):563-591.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Özcan B, Mayer KU, Luedicke J (2010). The impact of unemployment on the transition to parenthood. Demographic Research, 23(29):807-846.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Pailhe A, Solaz A (2012). Research Article on The influence of employment uncertainty on childbearing in France: A tempo or quantum effect. Demographic Research, 26(1):1-40.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Prifti E, Vuri D (2012). Employment Protection and Fertility: Evidence from the 1990 Italian Reform. Discussion paper, IZA DP 6608.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Rabbi, AMF (2013). Transition to Second Parity: Role of Employment and Household Decision-Making Autonomy in Bangladesh. American Journal of Public Health Research, 1(6):140-145.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Rindfuss RR, Morgan SP, Swicegood G (1988). First Births in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
|
|
|
|
Rondinelli C, Aassve A, Billari, FC (2010). Women's wages and childbearing decisions: Evidence from Italy. Demographic Research, 22(19):549-578.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Santarelli, E (2011). Economic resources and the first child in Italy: A focus on income and job stability. Demographic Research, 25(9):311-336.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Schmitt C (2012). Labour market integration, occupational uncertainties, and fertility choices in Germany and the UK. Demographic Research, 26(12):253-292.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Schoen RN, Astone NM, Kim YJ, Nathanson CA, Fields JM (1999). Do Fertility Intentions Affect Fertility Behavior. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61(3):790-799.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Shreffler KM, Johnson DR (2013). Fertility Intentions, Career Considerations and Subsequent Births: The Moderating Effects of Women's Work Hours. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 34(3):285-295.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Sinyavskaya O, Billingsley S (2013). The importance of job characteristics to women's fertility intentions and behavior in Russia. Stockholm research reports in demography.
|
|
|
|
Sleebos J (2003). Low fertility in OECD Countries. OECD Social Employment and Migration, 15.
|
|
|
|
Sullingham O, Falkingham J (1991). Unemployment: family circumstances and childhood correlates among young people in Britain. Population Studies, 45:115-132.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Spéder Z, Kapitany B (2009). How are time-dependent childbearing intentions realized? Realization, postponement, abandonment, bringing forward. European Journal of Population, 25(4):503-523.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Sultana AM (2011). Factors Effect on Women Autonomy and Decision-Making Power within the Household in Rural Communities. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 7(1):18-22.
|
|
|
|
Tang Z (2001). Cultural Influence, Economic Security, and the Fertility Behavior of the Chinese in Canada. Canadian Studies in Population, 28 (1), 35-67. Ranjan, P. (1999). Fertility behavior under income uncertainty. European Journal of Population, 15:25-43.
|
|
|
|
Testa MR, Basten S (2014). Certainty of meeting fertility intentions declines in Europe during the 'Great Recession. Demographic Research, 31(23):687-734.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Tragaki A, Bagavos C (2014). Male fertility in Greece: Trends and differentials by education level and employment status. Demographic Research, 31(6):137-160.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Tavakol M, Dennick R (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2:53-55.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Tölke A, Diewald M (2003). Insecurities in employment and occupational careers and their impact on the transition to fatherhood in western Germany. Demographic Research, 9(3):41-68.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Vignoli D, Drefahl S, De Santis G (2012). Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners. Demographic Research, 26(2):41-62.
Crossref
|
|
|
|
Westoff CF, Bankole A (1995). Child bearing Attitudes and Intentions. DHS Comparative studies 17. Calverton, Marland: Macro International Inc.
|
|
|
|
Younger, S. D. (2006). Labor Market Activities and Fertility (Prepared for the African Economic Research Consortium). Strategies and Analysis for Growth and Access (SAGA) working Paper
View
|
(95% confidence interval for the normal variant value (Z=1.96); 10% admissible error (d=0.10); and 50% as admissible percentage). Fortunately, information was collected from 174 (113 and 61 respondents from the public university and national university respectively) respondents. A proportionate sampling technique was also used and it is perhaps the most widely used method of allocation (Islam, 2011). The study made use of social survey method and a structured interview questionnaire with both open and closed-end. The structured interview questionnaire was the most important instrument, as it was used to collect most of the quantitative information on employment status, fertility intention, and behavior. This instrument was used to extract quantitative information on respondent’s socio-demographic, socio-economic characteristics, issues relating to the employment stability and fertility behavior. Respondents were asked to provide their opinions and reactions to different questions on employment stability and fertility intention and behavior.
