To Work or Not to Work? Child Development and Maternal Labor Supply

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Frijters ◽  
David W Johnston ◽  
Manisha Shah ◽  
Michael A Shields
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Poor Child ◽  
Maternal Labor Supply ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Unit Increase ◽  
Instrumental Variables Approach ◽  
Maternal Labor Force Participation

We estimate the effect of early child development on maternal labor force participation. Mothers of poorly developing children may remain at home to care for their children. Alternatively, mothers may enter the labor force to pay for additional educational and health resources. Which action dominates is the empirical question we answer in this paper. We control for the potential endogeneity of child development by using an instrumental variables approach, uniquely exploiting exogenous variation in child development associated with child handedness. We find that a one unit increase in poor child development decreases maternal labor force participation by approximately 10 percentage points. (JEL J13, J16, J22)

scholarly journals Changes in Labor Force Participation in the United States

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinhui Juhn ◽  
Simon Potter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Labor Force Participation Rate ◽  
Demographic Trends ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Downturns

The labor force participation rate in the United States increased almost continuously for two-and-a-half decades after the mid-1960s, pausing only briefly during economic downturns. The pace of growth slowed considerably during the 1990s, however, and after reaching a record high of 67.3 percent in the first quarter of 2000, participation had declined by 1.5 percentage points by 2005. This paper reviews the social and demographic trends that contributed to the movements in the labor force participation rate in the second half of the twentieth century. It also examines the manner in which developments in the 2000s reflect a break from past trends and considers implications for the future.

Labor Market Assimilation of Immigrant Women

ILR Review ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Schoeni
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Country Of Birth ◽  
Women's Labor ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Life Cycle Patterns ◽  
Women's Labor Force Participation

Using 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. census data, the author examines the life-cycle patterns of immigrant women's labor force participation. He finds that the cross-sectional approach that has been used in all previous studies leads to a substantial over-estimate of the degree to which immigrant women's assimilation increases their labor force participation. The effect of assimilation found by using the cohort approach, however (which acknowledges the possibility that patterns of labor force participation partly reflect the year of immigration), is still sizable. The effect is concentrated within the first 10 years after arrival. There are substantial differences in participation and assimilation by country of birth. Immigrants from Japan, Korea, and China are found to have experienced the greatest degree of assimilation, with an effect that raises the probability of working by 20 percentage points during the first 10 years after arriving in the United States.

scholarly journals A cohort-based analysis of labor force participation for advanced economies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
By Francesco Grigoli ◽  
Zsoka Koczan ◽  
Petia Topalova
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Cohort Model ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
And Shifts

Abstract Advanced economies are in the midst of a major demographic transition, with the number of elderly rising precipitously. Yet, advanced economies experienced different trajectories in labor force participation rates and workforce attachment of men and women. Using a cohort model for 17 advanced economies during 1985–2016, we document a significant role of common patterns of participation over the life cycle and shifts in these patterns across generations, especially for women. New cohorts of women led to upward shifts in the age participation profile. However, this process plateaued in most countries, with signs of reversal in some. We project sizable declines in participation rates over the next three decades, with aggregate participation forecast to decline by 5.5 percentage points for the median advanced economy. Illustrative simulations show that closing gender gaps, extending working lives, and implementing policies encouraging labor supply can help attenuate, but may not fully offset, demographic pressures.

scholarly journals The Gendered Consequences of a Weak Infrastructure of Care: School Reopening Plans and Parents’ Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn Collins ◽  
Leah Ruppanner ◽  
Liana Christin Landivar ◽  
William Scarborough
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Hybrid Instruction ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Percentage Points

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended in-person public education across the United States, a critical infrastructure of care that parents—especially mothers—depend on to work. To understand the nature and magnitude of school closures across states, we collected detailed primary data—the Elementary School Operating Status database (ESOS)—to measure the percentage of school districts offering in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction models for elementary schools by state in September 2020. We link these data to the Current Population Survey to evaluate the association between school reopening and parents’ labor force participation rates, comparing 2020 labor force participation rates to those observed pre-pandemic in 2019. We find that, across states, the maternal labor force participation rate fell to a greater extent than that of fathers. In 2019, mothers’ rate of labor force participation was about 18 percentage points lower than fathers’. By 2020, this gap grew by five percentage points in states where schools offered primarily remote instruction. We show that schools are a vital source of care for young children, and that without in-person instruction, mothers have been sidelined from the labor force. The longer these conditions remain in place, the more difficult it may be for mothers to fully recover from prolonged spells of non-employment, resulting in reduced occupational opportunities and lifetime earnings.

scholarly journals The Gendered Consequences of a Weak Infrastructure of Care: School Reopening Plans and Parents’ Employment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn Collins ◽  
Leah Ruppanner ◽  
Liana Christin Landivar ◽  
William J. Scarborough
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Hybrid Instruction ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Percentage Points

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended in-person public education across the United States, a critical infrastructure of care that parents—especially mothers—depend on to work. To understand the nature and magnitude of school closures across states, we collected detailed primary data—the Elementary School Operating Status database (ESOS)—to measure the percentage of school districts offering in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction models for elementary schools by state in September 2020. We link these data to the Current Population Survey to evaluate the association between school reopening and parents’ labor force participation rates, comparing 2020 labor force participation rates to those observed prepandemic in 2019. We find that, across states, the maternal labor force participation rate fell to a greater extent than that of fathers. In 2019, mothers’ rate of labor force participation was about 18 percentage points lower than fathers’. By 2020, this gap grew by 5 percentage points in states where schools offered primarily remote instruction. We show that schools are a vital source of care for young children, and that without in-person instruction, mothers have been sidelined from the labor force. The longer these conditions remain in place, the more difficult it may be for mothers to fully recover from prolonged spells of nonemployment, resulting in reduced occupational opportunities and lifetime earnings.

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