Do Current Childcare Costs Cause Women to Leave their Jobs? A Workforce Retention Regression Analysis
| Název práce v češtině: | Jsou náklady na institucionalizovanou péči o dítě rozhodujícím faktorem pro ženy zůstat v domácnosti? |
|---|---|
| Název v anglickém jazyce: | Do Current Childcare Costs Cause Women to Leave their Jobs? A Workforce Retention Regression Analysis |
| Klíčová slova: | Náklady na péči o dítě, USA, pracovní trh |
| Klíčová slova anglicky: | Childcare costs, USA, labor market |
| Akademický rok vypsání: | 2022/2023 |
| Typ práce: | bakalářská práce |
| Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
| Ústav: | Institut ekonomických studií (23-IES) |
| Vedoucí / školitel: | PhDr. Mgr. Jana Votápková, Ph.D. |
| Řešitel: | skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem |
| Datum přihlášení: | 23.06.2023 |
| Datum zadání: | 23.06.2023 |
| Seznam odborné literatury |
| Belkin, Lisa. (2003). “The Opt-Out Revolution.” The New York Times.
Conroy, T. (2019). The kids are alright: working women, schedule flexibility and childcare. Regional studies, 53(2), 261-271. Craig, L., & Powell, A. (2012). Dual-earner parents' work-family time: the effects of atypical work patterns and non-parental childcare. Journal of population research (Canberra, A.C.T.), 29(3), 229-247. De Marco, A., Crouter, A. C., & Vernon-feagans, L. (2009). The relationship of maternal work characteristics to childcare type and quality in rural communities. Community, work & family, 12(4), 369-387. Flynn, L. (2017). Childcare markets and maternal employment: A typology. Journal of European Social Policy, 27(3), 260–275. Herbst, C. M. (2017). Universal Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children’s Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence from the US Lanham Act of 1940. Journal of Labor Economics, 35(2), 519–564. Herbst, C. M. (2018). The rising cost of child care in the United States: A reassessment of the evidence, Economics of Education Review, Volume 64, Pages 13-30, ISSN 0272-7757. Miller, C. D., Gerdes, A., & Bragger, T. (2020). Policy Point-Counterpoint: Could a Universal Childcare Policy Be Implemented to Help Working Families in the U.S.? International social science review, 96(1), 0_1-10. Morrissey, T.W. (2017). Child care and parent labor force participation: a review of the research literature. Rev Econ Household 15, 1–24. Ruppanner, L., Moller, S., & Sayer, L. (2019). Expensive Childcare and Short School Days = Lower Maternal Employment and More Time in Childcare? Evidence from the American Time Use Survey. Socius, 5. Yavorsky, J. E., & Ruppanner, L. (2022). AN ARGUMENT FOR UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL AND CHILDCARE IN THE U.S. Journal of policy analysis and management, 41(3), 922-929. Zamarro, G., & Prados, M. J. (2021). Gender differences in couples’ division of childcare, work and mental health during COVID-19. Review of economics of the household, 19(1), 11-40. |
| Předběžná náplň práce |
| Research question and motivation
The thesis will investigate factors influencing the likelihood of women remaining in the labor market in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the impact of children, i.e. childcare expenditures and time necessary for childcaring. For parents with small children, especially the woman, it is almost completely necessary to allocate childcare or any other form of babysitting. Childcare costs have been seemingly continuously rising, and as according to a report by Child Care Aware of America (2019), the average annual cost of full-time center-based childcare for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition at public colleges in 28 states. Such financial strain has direct consequences on the incomes and economic well-being of young parents. Once costs of external childcare exceed a certain amount, relative to the wage received in the labor market, a woman weighs whether to stay at home with the child or remain in the labor market. Besides wage, however, there may be other factors at play that determine that a mother decides to stay at home with the baby. As are described in Lisa Belkin’s New York Times Article “The Opt-Out Revolution”, some factors include prominent gender roles, meaning that the mother should be home rather than the father, the job flexibility being non-existent, a woman needing time to spend with her children and raise them with her own principles and morals, and there is also the work-life balance where when a women finally comes home from work, she continues to work by tending to her child’s needs. Lisa Belkin describes these struggles as other possible drivers for women requiring shorter working hours or going as far as moving out the labor force entirely. Previous research has extensively investigated the impact of childcare expenditures on maternal labor force participation. According to individual level studies highlighted by Ruppanner, L., Moller, S., & Sayer, L. (2019), higher childcare costs demotivated maternal employment, which meant initially moving from full-time to part-time employment to make a feasible financial transition. These studies lay the groundwork for future research into the relationship between childcare expenses and labor retention, and understanding the impact of childcare factors on worker retention could be vital in helping design supportive policies and work environments for these females. With more supportive evidence and research, policies would be more likely to be put into place. I will thus explore whether childcare costs significantly influence labor market decisions. Contribution I will estimate the effect of childcare expenses on the likelihood of remaining in the workforce and add to the body of existing literature. The research results will give a comprehensive view of the factors influencing workforce retention, particularly for mothers in the United States, by looking at these determinants. The findings of this study may have applications for individuals, employers, and policymakers. Understanding how childcare costs, maternal age, and workforce retention are related can help with the proposal and implementation of supportive policies like subsidized childcare programs or flexible work schedules, which can increase the percentage of mothers who participate in the workforce. Employers can also create family-friendly workplace policies that better meet the requirements of working parents using the knowledge acquired from this research. Methodology The proposed methodology for this study entails employing micro-level data from the American Time Use Survey's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). This dataset contains specific information on people's time utilization, including childcare, time at work, and employment characteristics . Specific data on child care expenses is provided in the United States Census Bureau’s SIPP panel data. Here it is possible to compare mother’s income in relation to how much is spent on monthly child care payments. A regression analysis will be carried out. Workforce participation throughout a certain time period will be the dependent variable. An alternative variable will be the amount of hours spent at work per a certain time span. Other possible drivers of workforce retention, such as education, household income, and job characteristics, will be controlled for in the research. To analyze the link between the independent factors and the dependent variable, regression models such as multiple linear regression or logistic regression will be used. The model will look as follows: y = α+ β_1 x + β_2 costs + u Y denotes the dependent variable describing workforce retention which is the amount of workforce participation (time spent at work) X is a vector of sociodemographic variables that will be looked at vastly Costs denotes the costs of childcare Outline Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results and Interpretation Conclusion |
| Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce |
| Research question and motivation
The thesis will investigate factors influencing the likelihood of women remaining in the labor market in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the impact of children, i.e. childcare expenditures and time necessary for childcaring. For parents with small children, especially the woman, it is almost completely necessary to allocate childcare or any other form of babysitting. Childcare costs have been seemingly continuously rising, and as according to a report by Child Care Aware of America (2019), the average annual cost of full-time center-based childcare for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition at public colleges in 28 states. Such financial strain has direct consequences on the incomes and economic well-being of young parents. Once costs of external childcare exceed a certain amount, relative to the wage received in the labor market, a woman weighs whether to stay at home with the child or remain in the labor market. Besides wage, however, there may be other factors at play that determine that a mother decides to stay at home with the baby. As are described in Lisa Belkin’s New York Times Article “The Opt-Out Revolution”, some factors include prominent gender roles, meaning that the mother should be home rather than the father, the job flexibility being non-existent, a woman needing time to spend with her children and raise them with her own principles and morals, and there is also the work-life balance where when a women finally comes home from work, she continues to work by tending to her child’s needs. Lisa Belkin describes these struggles as other possible drivers for women requiring shorter working hours or going as far as moving out the labor force entirely. Previous research has extensively investigated the impact of childcare expenditures on maternal labor force participation. According to individual level studies highlighted by Ruppanner, L., Moller, S., & Sayer, L. (2019), higher childcare costs demotivated maternal employment, which meant initially moving from full-time to part-time employment to make a feasible financial transition. These studies lay the groundwork for future research into the relationship between childcare expenses and labor retention, and understanding the impact of childcare factors on worker retention could be vital in helping design supportive policies and work environments for these females. With more supportive evidence and research, policies would be more likely to be put into place. I will thus explore whether childcare costs significantly influence labor market decisions. Contribution I will estimate the effect of childcare expenses on the likelihood of remaining in the workforce and add to the body of existing literature. The research results will give a comprehensive view of the factors influencing workforce retention, particularly for mothers in the United States, by looking at these determinants. The findings of this study may have applications for individuals, employers, and policymakers. Understanding how childcare costs, maternal age, and workforce retention are related can help with the proposal and implementation of supportive policies like subsidized childcare programs or flexible work schedules, which can increase the percentage of mothers who participate in the workforce. Employers can also create family-friendly workplace policies that better meet the requirements of working parents using the knowledge acquired from this research. Methodology The proposed methodology for this study entails employing micro-level data from the American Time Use Survey's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). This dataset contains specific information on people's time utilization, including childcare, time at work, and employment characteristics . Specific data on child care expenses is provided in the United States Census Bureau’s SIPP panel data. Here it is possible to compare mother’s income in relation to how much is spent on monthly child care payments. A regression analysis will be carried out. Workforce participation throughout a certain time period will be the dependent variable. An alternative variable will be the amount of hours spent at work per a certain time span. Other possible drivers of workforce retention, such as education, household income, and job characteristics, will be controlled for in the research. To analyze the link between the independent factors and the dependent variable, regression models such as multiple linear regression or logistic regression will be used. The model will look as follows: y = α+ β_1 x + β_2 costs + u Y denotes the dependent variable describing workforce retention which is the amount of workforce participation (time spent at work) X is a vector of sociodemographic variables that will be looked at vastly Costs denotes the costs of childcare Outline Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results and Interpretation Conclusion |