Mothers’ Worklives and Marital Status

Abstract Do single mothers work more throughout their lifetimes than married mothers? If so, do these differences vary by level of education? To answer, a two-state model is used to calculate worklives of mothers with a spouse present, in contrast to worklives of mothers without a spouse present. Worklives are generated for women of various education levels. Results show that married women with a spouse present have a shorter worklife than other marital status mothers. Regardless of marital status, less educated mothers have a shorter worklife than more educated mothers.