Does Fertility Respond to Work and Family-life Reconciliation Policies in France?

For the past two years, France has enjoyed fertility rates approaching replacement level, with a total fertility rate of 1.98 in 2006 and 2.00 in 2008. After a ten-year period of slow growth, the fertility rate has thus reached its highest level in about thirty years (Prioux, 2007), placing France in top position among European and other OECD countries. However, this high level of fertility is somewhat puzzling, because most of the trends impacting the transition to adulthood that have emerged in Western countries since the 1970s may also be seen in France. Young people have increased their educational investment, delayed their entry onto the labour market, their departure from their parents‘ homes or their entry into parenthood. The changes have been especially significant for women, whose labour force participation continues to increase. The young generations face relatively high unemployment rates and have become increasingly uncertain about their labour force status.