wedish women see themselves as members of the labor force for most of their adult lives. On reason is the regulation covering Swedish leave policy, in which the most extensive improvements in parental benefits have been limited to employed parents. These benefits are based on earnings, which is an inducement to try to achieve as a good a salary as possible before entering motherhood. This will be important not only in order to improve one’s income compensation during parental leave but also for later segments of life when caring for a child may hamper a woman’s ability to improve her income and make progress in her job.This line of reasoning is probably most valid for more highly educated women, but as a general explanation it is weakened by the fact that most women in Sweden are not employed in jobs with a strong income gradient after the first few years of work. It is therefore hard to believe that most women will earn so much more money by postponing their first birth by two to three extra years after entering permanent employment. On the other hand, there are other reasons besides the obvious economic ones to become established in the labor market before having children (Dey). Most women want a secure job that they enjoy and wish to return to after parental leave. Moreover, even if Swedish parents with a child under the age of eight have a legal right to reduce their working hours, it may be easier to exercise this right and to obtain flexible working hours if they are in a stable and permanent employment. There are no direct indications that more Swedish men and women will want to remain childless in the future, even if an increasing proportion are childless in their late twenties. Childbearing is certainly seen as an important part of a full life, but for many young people it is an issue for a later stage in life.Family PolicyIn Sweden, perhaps more than in other countries, priority is given to ensuring a dece...
