After-School Care and Parents Labor Supply
48 Pages Posted: 25 Nov 2013
Date Written: November 2013
Abstract
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.
Keywords: Childcare, parents' labor supply, semi-parametric estimation methods
JEL Classification: C14, J13, J22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation