Family policies, working life and the third child in two low-fertility populations: A comparative study of contemporary France and Sweden

This paper addresses the relationship between family, working life and the third child in two low-fertility populations. The data source is two national fertility and family surveys organized in Sweden and France. They include information about men’s and women’s educational histories and their work experience, as well as their childbearing and union histories. We find that parents with a strong work attachment face more obstacles in France than in Sweden in their progression to a third birth. Education reduces men’s and women’s rates of transition to a third birth in France, whereas in Sweden improved education continues to increase fertility progression. Generous parental benefits and flexible work practices are found as crucial instruments for facilitating the work and childbearing strategies of dual-earner families. Less latitude for adjustment to the labour market requirements leads to limitations of the family size when both parents work or to large families with a more gendered division of labour.