Researchers at Bocconi University in Milan found that losing a job negatively affects the chances of having a baby. This relationship was more pronounced in couples with average income. there was work published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Losing a job can have a profound negative psychosocial impact on a person – leading to financial stress, loss of social status, loneliness and reduced self-esteem. All of these are closely related to stress, anxiety and depression. The authors wanted to explore the impact of job loss on a couple’s fertility, namely their decision to have children.
To do this, they analyzed data from three large-scale annual family surveys in Germany and the United Kingdom. A total of 15 thousand people participated in the study. Volunteers were divided into two groups as those who experienced an unexpected job loss and those who did not. The scientists also tracked whether the participants became pregnant at least 1 month after they were fired.
The results showed that couples where women lost their jobs were less likely to have children within 5 years of being fired. Dismissal of men was less likely to have a negative impact on the likelihood of having children, but the effect still persisted.