Evaluating Workplace Mandates with Flows Versus Stocks: An Application to California Paid Family Leave

35 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2014

See all articles by E. Mark Curtis

E. Mark Curtis

Wake Forest University - Department of Economics

Barry T. Hirsch

IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Georgia State University

Mary Schroeder

University of Iowa

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Employer mandates and other labor demand/supply shocks typically have small effects on wages and employment. These effects should be more discernible using data on employment transitions and wages among new hires rather than incumbents. The Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) dataset provides county by quarter by demographic group data on the number and earnings of new hires, separations, and recalls (i.e., extended leaves). We use the QWI to examine the labor market effects of California's paid family leave (CPFL) policy. Implemented in July 2004, it was the first such policy mandated in the U.S. The analysis compares outcomes for young women in California to those for other workers in California and to workers throughout the U.S. Relative earnings for young female new hires were largely unaffected by CPFL. We find strong evidence that separations (of at least three months) and hiring of young women increased substantively. Many young women who separated later returned to the same firm. CPFL appears to have led not only to increased time with children, but also to a decline in job lock, enhanced mobility, and increased worker flows following universal paid family leave.

Keywords: policy evaluation, paid family leave, new hires, wages, employment, turnover

JEL Classification: J32, J38

Suggested Citation

Curtis, E. Mark and Hirsch, Barry T. and Hirsch, Barry T. and Schroeder, Mary, Evaluating Workplace Mandates with Flows Versus Stocks: An Application to California Paid Family Leave. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8449, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2502309 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2502309

E. Mark Curtis (Contact Author)

Wake Forest University - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7659
Winston-Salem, NC 27109-7285
United States

Barry T. Hirsch

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Georgia State University ( email )

Department of Economics
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Atlanta, GA 30302-3992
United States
404-413-0880 (Phone)
404-413-0145 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://unionstats.gsu.edu/bhirsch

Mary Schroeder

University of Iowa ( email )

341 Schaeffer Hall
Iowa City, IA 52242-1097
United States

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