British Mothers Miss Out on Almost £70,000 in Decade After Birth



David Goodman
Mon, June 6, 2022, 

(Bloomberg) -- British mothers lose out on almost £70,000 ($88,000) in wages in the 10 years after having a baby, according to new research.

In a report published Monday, the Social Market Foundation said a woman who had her first child in 2010-11 has on average suffered a total pay cut of £66,434 over the following nine years, compared to the amount she would have earned if she remained childless.

The SMF said the findings, which do not take into account the additional spending faced by parents, show the penalty inflicted by the high cost of child care with mothers unable to work as much as they want to. Britain has some of the most expensive early years care in the world, typically costing families more than 7% of their income.

Poorer households pay and even higher share, while lower-paid women also see a bigger drop in their earnings after giving birth, the SMF said. The group has launched a commission with UK MPs to analyze the impact of poor child-care provision on wages and poverty, and examine ways to improve the system.

“With child-care costs prohibitive, many either have to stop working, or work reduced hours, in order to look after children,” said Scott Corfe, SMF Research Director. “This means derailed career paths, missed promotion opportunities, and tens of thousands of pounds of foregone earnings over the course of a decade.”

The headline figure is based on a typical career progression, which saw women aged 25-35 benefit from an earnings increase of around a third over the 2010s. In contrast, someone who became a mother at the start of the decade was earning 10% less.