Does Childbearing Lower Women's Wages?

It has long been assumed that a woman's lifetime earnings are reduced by childbearing. A new study confirms that assumption and also measures the size of the loss. In an analysis (Working Paper 16582) of a longitudinal survey that tracked women aged 14 to 21 in 1979 for more than 25 years, researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research discovered that the average high-scoring (i.e., smart) woman loses $230,000 in wages over her lifetime if she has children. Motherhood reduces the average low-scoring woman's wages by a smaller $49,000.