"In this paper we make use of the panel aspects of the German GSOEP, the Swedish HUS and the British BHPS data...[to analyze] labor force transitions triggered by child births of different birth orders.... We find that German and British women have even higher full-time labor force participation than Swedish women 12 months before the birth of the first child. The difference is more pronounced for second and third births than for first births. We suggest that these differences are caused by different family policy regimes where Germany can be characterized as a breadwinner regime and Sweden a regime oriented towards equal role sharing of father and mother. Our results on determinants of being in the labor force both after and before the birth of a child as well as determinants of the tempo of entering the labor force after birth show that women's own human capital is important both in Germany and Great Britain, whereas in Sweden also less educated women have entered the labor force by the time the child is 2 years old."

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Low educational levels and the effect of children are recognized as the most important factor for low female participation rates. Over the last decades, female labour supply in Europe has shown a large increase. This may be the result of changes in the level of education or fertility. It is also possible that it is due to changes in behaviour, as influenced by the social and institutional context. Our results show that increases in participation rates cannot be explained by changes in either educational level or the number and timing of children. Female labour supply increases for all educational levels and for both women with and without children. In other words, it is mainly changes in behaviour driving the increase in participation rates over the last decades.

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There is a strong effect of childbirth on female labour supply.This effect, however, is changing over time.This article uses panel data on the last two decades on three European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the UK) to study changes in female labour force behaviour around childbirth and tries to find an explanation for these changes by looking at differences between the three countries. We conclude that there are substantial differences in participation patterns between the three countries in our study and that policy measures and institutions such as childcare that make the costs of combining work and family lower relative to being a full-time mother seem to increase female participation rates. KEY WORDSfamily policies / female labour supply / institutions / transitions / work-life balance