Thread by @dhsandler

New #CensusResearch "Same-Sex Couples and the Child Earnings Penalty" by @Lucia_Econ, @Drbarbaradowns, @rachel_nesbit, and @dhsandler census.gov/library/workin…

We find that women in opposite-sex couples experience a large and sustained decrease in earnings when they have children even when they were the primary earner pre-child

We don't see the same earnings losses for women in same-sex couples. Secondary earners gain earnings relative to before the child.

Men in same-sex couples have similar earnings patterns to women in same-sex couples. No one else appears to be experiencing the large earnings losses when a child enters a household that women in opposite-sex couples experience

At the household level, we see an earnings drop the quarter after the child enters the household for all household types

We disaggregate the total earnings patterns to understand the role of the intensive margin (earnings for those who are employed) and extensive margin (earnings changes due to shifts between employment and non-employment)

For opposite-sex primary and equal-earner men, earnings are even higher if you just look at the intensive margin. Secondary earner men are more likely to be working post-child, so their total earnings (including these extensive margin shifts) are higher

Although women in opposite-sex couples experience sharp drops in earnings at both the intensive and extensive margin, the sustained losses in earnings come from the extensive margin. There is recovery in earnings for those who are employed post-child.

Same-sex couples see earnings growth post-child for all earner types at the intensive margin. There are more extensive margin earnings losses for primary and equal-earner individuals in same-sex couples than for secondary earners