MORE POWER TO THE PILL: THE IMPACT OF CONTRACEPTIVE FREEDOM ON WOMEN'S LIFE CYCLE LABOR SUPPLY

Abstract

The release of Enovid in 1960, the first birth control pill, afforded U. S. women unprecedented freedom to plan childbearing and their careers. This paper uses plausibly exogenous variation in state consent laws to evaluate the causal impact of the pill on the timing of first births and extent and intensity of women's labor-force participation. The results suggest that legal access to the pill before age 21 significantly reduced the likelihood of a first birth before age 22, increased the number of women in the paid labor force, and raised the number of annual hours worked.

Figure I

Live First-Birth Rates by Age of Mother, 1940–1995 First-birth rates are computed as the number of live first births per 1000 women in the appropriate age group. Source: Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Statistical Tables on Births, Table 1 and 2: First-birth rates by Age of Mother, According to Race and Hispanic Origin: United States, Specified Years 1940–1955 and Each Year 1960–1994 [2003].

Figure II

The Distribution of Age at First Birth, by Cohort The figure plots the fraction of women (vertical axis) with a first birth at a particular age (horizontal axis). Synthetic birth cohorts are generated by computing the year of birth (reported age from the year of the survey). Sample includes women who were ages 35 to 44 at the time of the survey who had ever given birth. Source: June CPS 1977–1995.

Figure III

Age-Specific Labor-Force Participation Rates, by Cohort and Age 1900–1970 Pre-1964 data are averaged over cohorts as in Smith and Ward [1985, Table I]. For instance, the participation rate for women ages 14 to 19 in 1950 is plotted in this figure as the cohort of 1930 at those ages. Data after 1963 represent participation rates for a single year of birth cohort at the reported age. Synthetic birth cohorts are computed by subtracting the reported age from the year of the survey. Bold lines depict the 1940 and 1955 cohorts. The March sample includes all women not in the military or inmates ages 16 to 60. Source: 1964–2001 March $CPS$; for years before 1964, data are from Smith and Ward [1985, Table I].