Educational Choice, Labor Market Entrance, and Family Career – In that Order?

Daniel Hallberg, Institute for Futures Studies
Thomas Lindh, Institute for Futures Studies
Jovan Zamac, Uppsala University
Ying Hong, Institute for Futures Studies
Daniel Avdic, Institute for Futures Studies

Few get children while enrolled in higher education, nevertheless one fourth of female university students in Sweden has children. In Sweden as in many other countries enrollment periods have been prolonged and allocated to later parts of life. In this paper we explore the composition of students with respect to parenthood, investigate allocation of studies and the study length, and examine potential outcomes after studies have ended. Using a large longitudinal register micro data set containing educational achievement we find indications that female students with children seem to be more efficient in their studies as they reach a diploma faster. However compared to those that study without children they register fewer diplomas and have a somewhat lower wage income growth after they have finished their education. The dropouts seem to be driven by failures in the initial period at higher level rather than dropping out of university later.