Children and female labor market outcomes in Vietnam.

This paper examines the effect of fertility on the participation of women in the labor market and other labor market outcomes in Vietnam, using Vietnam Labor Force Survey data. To address the endogeneity issue in fertility, we use an instrumental variable estimation method based on parental preference for the mixed-sex composition of the first two children. Our findings indicate that number of children has a negative impact on maternal participation in the labor market and on working hours but has no effect on earnings.