Segmented Labour Market and Unequal Maternal Employment Trajectories between Immigrant and Native Mothers in Spain: A Sequential Analysis Approach

Despite a persistent 'motherhood penalty' on women' s labor market outcomes, structural changes in the labor market have also created new divisions of labor, leading to growing inequalities in job stability between native-born and migrant mothers, especially in countries with a highly segmented labour market and a high incidence of temporary employment, such as Spain. Using retrospective information on employment histories from the Spanish Fertility Survey 2018 (EF-2018) and a sequence analysis approach, this study examines how migrant background differentially shapes the transitions of women's employment patterns after the transition to motherhood by looking at changes in job quality, distinguishing between different types of employment contracts. Our results show that women with a migrant background experience high levels of job insecurity and are more likely to experience employment interruptions or even exit from the labour market after childbirth compared to their native-born counterparts. These findings highlight the underlying inequalities that lead to a differential impact of motherhood on women's employment conditions based on immigrant status, which can inform future policy recommendations in the context of increasing social inequality.