Just a quarter of new mothers are in work within three years of having a baby, study finds

Just a quarter of new mothers are in full-time work or are self-employed within three years of having a baby, a study for ministers revealed yesterday.

The research, based on a state-funded survey, said women suffer economically because of childbirth, adding that in the five years after a baby is born fathers were found to be twice as likely to win promotion or find a better job than mothers.

The figures, from the Understanding Society survey, clash with estimates published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year, which said almost a third (31.1 per cent) of mothers of children under two are in full-time work.

But the society’s data shows only 27.8 per cent of women are in full-time work or are self-employed three years after childbirth, compared to 90 per cent of new fathers. 

It added that while 26 per cent of men achieve promotion or a better job within five years of having a child, the level is only 13 per cent for women. 

The findings, based on the lives of 2,281 new mothers over three years and 1,199 over the first five years of parenthood, underline successive governments’ failures to encourage mothers back into work.

In 2015, David Cameron introduced Shared Parental Leave, which allowed parents to share 50 weeks of statutory leave. 

But the most recent figures suggest only 1 per cent of eligible couples took advantage of the scheme.

Study author Professor Susan Harkness, of Bristol University, said: ‘[Mothers’] loss in work experience… is an important part of the explanation for the gender pay gap and suggests women still suffer economically as a result of taking on childcare.’

The research, based on a state-funded survey, said women suffer economically because of childbirth, adding that in the five years after a baby is born fathers were found to be twice as likely to win promotion or find a better job than mothers [File photo]