Mapping how family dynamics shape income inequality between families with young children: The case of Sweden, 1995-2018

Increased gender equality in the labor market and the home are both cited as stabilizers to income inequality between households, but shifts in the economic organization of families over the life course instead appear to amplify household income inequality. Using the case of Sweden, where men have taken longer parental leave in recent years and the age at parenthood continues to advance, we analyze between-family income inequality for couples with a young child. We decompose how changes in women’s and men’s income before and after entering parenthood, as well as the timing of parenthood, contributed to income inequality between the years 1995 to 2018. Analyses of income from population registers show no evidence that assortative mating has increased and that a minor decline in inequality between couples over this 24 year period resulted from two opposing trends: Dis-equalizing changes related to women’s post-birth income advancements were eclipsed by equalizing changes related to his pre-birth income changes and the postponement of parenthood. Men’s pre-birth income gains were particularly strong for the youngest men who were soon to become fathers. Post-birth income trends reveal how improved gender equality may increase between-family inequality through women’s income development and decrease inequality through men’s.