I have a story up on theAtlantic.com site about birthrates and childcare: here. The story was published with a confusing title, which was soon changed to the current title (same as here), so got some confused comments in response initially.
The NY Times‘ Room for Debate online forum asked “Should women delay motherhood?” That’s a problematic question, presuming that “experts” know what women “should” do better than they do themselves. Here’s my reply along with those of six others: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/07/08/should-women-delay-motherhood/delayed-parenting-can-empower-women A Delay
CDC Births: Final Data, 2011 Last week the CDC issued its final report on birth data for 2011. That includes final adjustments and new charts, but no major changes from the preliminary report issued last October. The final confirms that the general
The biggest salary gains were for women who had invested some of the delay time in getting an advanced degree and then went on to establish at work before having kids.
Along with the recession, the drop may have something to do also with recognition, as the teen rate rose in 2006 and 2007, of problems with Ab-only ed — and moves in a number of states away from that.
Likewise, all the additional people who had babies in 2007 (that rise occurred in all age brackets except those 45+ and those 14 and under) were busy in 2008 — taking care of those kids. Demand in the baby realm is not infinite.
On the other hand, recession-based decisions against a baby today among folks who would have otherwise felt ready, will lead to further increases in births to older moms (and dads) down the line. Lots of ripple effects to all these social dynamics.
Hot on the heels of last month’s fertility scaremongering about ovarian reserve came a new scare for women planning to start their families later, this one about autism. Once again, reporting on it ignored essential facts and skewed the takeaway.
But society as a whole benefits when all citizens who want them can have kids when they’re ready–at the most basic level because we need a next generation of workers, but at another level because we want our citizens to be happy–for charitable reasons and more pragmatically because families are often an important part of what people work for, at whatever point they start them.