Easing the Constraints of Motherhood: The Effects of All‐Day Schools on Mothers' Labor Supply (original) (raw)
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The Effects of Longer School Days on Mothers’ Labor Force Participation
Lack of adequate childcare is a main reason women cite for not participating in the labor force. We investigate the effect of a reform that lengthened school schedules from half to full days in Chile – essentially providing zero-cost childcare – on different maternal labor participation outcomes. We identify the effect of the policy from its implementation across municipalities over time and rule out alternative explanations, finding evidence of positive and important effects on participation and more permanent attachment to the labor force. Additionally, we also find results are driven by the provision of full day schooling in 1st and 2nd grades.
This study investigates the relationship between maternal employment and state-to-state differences in childcare cost and mean school day length. Pairing state-level measures with an individual-level sample of prime working-age mothers from the American Time Use Survey (2005–2014; n = 37,993), we assess the multilevel and time-varying effects of childcare costs and school day length on maternal full-time and part-time employment and childcare time. We find mothers’ odds of full-time employment are lower and part-time employment higher in states with expensive childcare and shorter school days. Mothers spend more time caring for children in states where childcare is more expensive and as childcare costs increase. Our results suggest that expensive childcare and short school days are important barriers to maternal employment and, for childcare costs, result in greater investments in childcare time. Politicians engaged in national debates about federal childcare policies should look to existing state childcare structures for policy guidance.
School enrolment and mothers’ labor supply: evidence from a regression discontinuity approach
Review of Economics of the Household
We analyse the impact on maternal employment of a universal school reform in Norway which lowered the school starting age from seven to six. We use a regression discontinuity approach exploiting exogenous variation in the compulsory school enrolment rule caused by the reform. Our results reveal positive short-term effects on labour supply (approximately 5 percentage points) and on earnings (about 12600/1350 NOK/Euro). Subgroup analyses show that the positive effects are much stronger for mothers with low wage potential, a group of mothers that were less likely to use formal childcare prior to the reform. The positive effects for this subgroup of mothers suggest that expanding childcare can be an effective tool for increasing labour supply of mothers that previously had relatively low labour market earnings potential.
After-school care and parents' labor supply
Labour Economics, 2016
After-School Care and Parents' Labor Supply 1 Does after-school care provision promote mothers' employment and balance the allocation of paid work among parents of schoolchildren? We address this question by exploiting variation in cantonal (state) regulations of after-school care provision in Switzerland. To establish exogeneity of cantonal regulations with respect to employment opportunities and preferences of the population, we restrict our analysis to confined regions along cantonal borders. Using semi-parametric instrumental variable methods, we find a positive impact of after-school care provision on mothers' full-time employment, but a negative impact on fathers' full-time employment. Thus, the supply of after-school care fosters a convergence of parental working hours.
2010
In 1996, the Chilean government approved the extension of the school day, increasing the amount of time that students spend at school by 30%. Using data from the Chilean socioeconomic household survey and administrative data from the Ministry of Education for 1990-2006, we exploit the quasi-experimental nature of the reform's implementation by time and region in order to identify the causal impact of the program on labor participation, employment and hours worked for women between 20 and 65 years old. The identification strategy relies on a fixed effect model of repeated cross-section. The results show a positive and significant effect on labor participation and female employment in all age groups and a negative and statistically significant effect on the number of hours worked. The main conclusion of this study is that the implicit childcare subsidy induced by the program had a positive and significant impact on the labor supply of women in Chile. In order to apply for this subsidy, the school must participate in a capital contribution competition held by MINEDUC which normally takes place twice a year. Each school is evaluated on the basis of socio-economic vulnerability and the funds required for each student to join the program. Each component is assigned a score, and the projects with the highest scores are funded.
We use IV estimation based on a kindergarten eligibility cutoff to provide a high internal validity causal estimate of the effect of subsidized childcare availability on mothers’ labor supply. Contrary to prior cutoff-based studies, we estimate at a child age when the mothers’ activity rate is still well below that of women, thus lack of childcare is potentially a binding constraint, and policy intervention may be effective. Our methodology ensures that similar individuals are compared, and possible seasonal effects are corrected for using difference in differences. The results show that access to subsidized childcare increases maternal participation by 19 percent.
Does Subsidized Childcare Matter for Maternal Labor Supply? A Policy-Relevant Cutoff- Based Estimate
2015
We estimate the effect of subsidized childcare availability on Hungarian mothers’ labor supply based on a discontinuity in kindergarten eligibility rules. The effect is identified at a child age when the mothers’ participation rate is still lower compared to mothers with older children, thus lack of childcare is potentially a binding constraint and policy intervention may be effective. Our sampling methodology ensures that similar individuals are compared, and seasonal effects are corrected for using a combination of instrumental variables and difference in differences. The results show that, despite an otherwise unsupportive institutional setting, access to subsidized childcare increases maternal labor market participation by 18 percent compared to the 51.5% baseline rate. A comprehensive policy approach could therefore achieve even greater results.
Effect of Lengthening the School Day on Mother's Labor Supply
The World Bank Economic Review, 2016
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Children's Working Hours and School Enrollment
World Bank Economic Review, 2012
We analyse the determinants of school attendance and hours worked by children in Pakistan and Nicaragua. On the basis of a theoretical model of children's labour supply, we simultaneously estimate the school attendance decision and the hours worked by Full Model Maximum Likelihood. We analyse the marginal effects of explanatory variables conditioning on the "latent" status of children in terms of schooling and work. We show that these effects are rather different, and discuss the policy implication of this finding.
Childcare availability and maternal labor supply in a setting of high potential impact
Empirical Economics, 2018
We estimate the effect of subsidized childcare availability on Hungarian mothers' labor supply, using a discontinuity in kindergarten eligibility at age 3 of children. The effect is identified in a setting where policy intervention has a high potential impact, since maternal labor supply is very low under age 3 of children, but high for mothers with older children. We find that access to subsidized childcare increases maternal labor supply by 11.7 percentage points or 24%, an impact that is higher than what has been found in previous quasi-experimental studies from most other countries. However, the potential effectiveness of future childcare expansion under age 3 may be constrained by further institutional factors, such as very long parental leave, tradi