Revisiting women's preferences about future labor force attachment: What effects do they have on earnings and what are they affected by?

This study extends previous works by Sandell and Shapiro (1980) and Shaw and Shapiro (1987), and considers the impact that women's prior plans about future market work have on their earnings and their labor force participation probabilities later in life. Results indicate that consistent prior plans of work increase labor force participation probability. They also increase earnings, with part of the latter effect operating through steeper experience-earnings profiles. Hausman tests fail to reject the exogeneity of prior work plans to current earnings levels. Further analysis reveals that parental family structure, a working mother as a role model, encouragement from parents and teachers, encouragement of reading in the parental home, peer group effects, age, current marital status, health, local unemployment rates, and personal labor market experiences all play important roles in influencing those work plans.