an article by Kathryn Anne Edwards and Jeffrey B. Wenger (Rand Corporation) published in IZA Journal of Labor Economics Volume 8 Issue 1 (July 2019)
Abstract
The risk of labor market, health, and asset-value shocks comprise profound retirement savings challenges for older workers. Parents, however, may experience added risk if their children experience adverse labor market shocks.
Prior research has shown that parents support their children financially through an unemployment spell. In this paper, we also provide evidence of financial support from parents and investigate if this financial support is accompanied by adjustments to parental consumption, income, or savings behavior.
With longitudinal data on mothers and children from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we use within-mother variation in behavior to identify the effect of a child’s labor market shock on parent outcomes. We find evidence of a decline in consumption, an increase in labor supply, and a decrease retirement savings, though the results are heterogenous among mothers.
Our results point to aggregate inefficiencies and inequities that may result from family risk sharing.
JEL Classification: D64, J6, J20, D15
Full text (PDF 44pp) downloads rather than linking directly
Showing posts with label female_labour_supply. Show all posts
Showing posts with label female_labour_supply. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
The impact of free, universal pre-school education on maternal labour supply
a research paper by Mike Brewer, Sarah Cattan, Claire Crawford and Birgitta Rabe published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (October 2014)
Abstract
We estimate the impact of free, universal pre-school education for three year olds on maternal labour supply in England, exploiting discontinuities arising from date of birth eligibility cut-offs and geographical variation in the speed at which the entitlement effectively covered all children.
The impacts using geographical variation in the rollout imply that the expansion of the free entitlement, which increased the proportion of children in England who could access free part-time early education by around 50 percentage points between 2000 and 2008, led to a rise in the employment rate of mothers whose youngest child is 3 years old of around 3 percentage points, equivalent to about 12,000 more mothers in work.
Given the estimated rise in the fraction of three year olds using some form of early education over the period, the implied IV estimate is that those mothers who used early education only because it was free were 25 percentage points more likely to work thanks to the free entitlement: although this is very imprecisely estimated, this is in the mid to upper range of estimates from studies from other countries, many of which look at the impact of access to longer hours of pre-school care.
JEL Classifications: I21, J22
Full text (PDF 49pp)
Abstract
We estimate the impact of free, universal pre-school education for three year olds on maternal labour supply in England, exploiting discontinuities arising from date of birth eligibility cut-offs and geographical variation in the speed at which the entitlement effectively covered all children.
The impacts using geographical variation in the rollout imply that the expansion of the free entitlement, which increased the proportion of children in England who could access free part-time early education by around 50 percentage points between 2000 and 2008, led to a rise in the employment rate of mothers whose youngest child is 3 years old of around 3 percentage points, equivalent to about 12,000 more mothers in work.
Given the estimated rise in the fraction of three year olds using some form of early education over the period, the implied IV estimate is that those mothers who used early education only because it was free were 25 percentage points more likely to work thanks to the free entitlement: although this is very imprecisely estimated, this is in the mid to upper range of estimates from studies from other countries, many of which look at the impact of access to longer hours of pre-school care.
JEL Classifications: I21, J22
Full text (PDF 49pp)
Monday, 29 July 2013
Determinants of Household Earnings Inequality: The Role of Labour Market Trends and Changing Household Structure
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Working Paper Series No. 591 by Wen-Hao Chen, Michael Förster and Ana Llena-Nozal (Social Policy Division, OECD) published June 2013
Abstract
This article assesses various underlying driving factors for the evolution of household earnings inequality for 23 OECD countries from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s.
There are a number of factors at play.
Some are related to labour market trends – increasing dispersion of individual wages and changes in men’s and women’s employment rates. Others relate to shifts in household structures and family formation – more single-headed households and increased earnings correlation among partners in couples. The contribution of each of these factors is estimated using a semi parametric decomposition technique.
The results reveal that marital sorting and household structure changes contributed, albeit moderately, to increasing household earnings inequality, while rising women’s employment exerted a sizable equalising effect.
However, changes in labour market factors, in particular increases in men’s earnings disparities, were identified as the main driver of household earnings inequality, contributing between one-third and one-half to the overall increase in most countries. Sensitivity analysis applying a reversed-order decomposition suggests that these results are robust.
JEL classification: D31, J12, J22, I30
Full text (PDF 41pp)
Abstract
This article assesses various underlying driving factors for the evolution of household earnings inequality for 23 OECD countries from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s.
There are a number of factors at play.
Some are related to labour market trends – increasing dispersion of individual wages and changes in men’s and women’s employment rates. Others relate to shifts in household structures and family formation – more single-headed households and increased earnings correlation among partners in couples. The contribution of each of these factors is estimated using a semi parametric decomposition technique.
The results reveal that marital sorting and household structure changes contributed, albeit moderately, to increasing household earnings inequality, while rising women’s employment exerted a sizable equalising effect.
However, changes in labour market factors, in particular increases in men’s earnings disparities, were identified as the main driver of household earnings inequality, contributing between one-third and one-half to the overall increase in most countries. Sensitivity analysis applying a reversed-order decomposition suggests that these results are robust.
JEL classification: D31, J12, J22, I30
Full text (PDF 41pp)
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Lifetime inequality and redistribution
a research paper by
Mike Brewer (Institute for Social and Economic Research and Institute for Fiscal Studies), Monica Costa Dias (Institute for Fiscal Studies, Centre for Economics and Finance at the University of Porto, and IZA) and Jonathan Shaw (Institute for Fiscal Studies
Published by Institute for Fiscal Studies in October 2012 [I must have missed it at the time but it’s definitely worth reading]
Abstract
In this paper we look at lifetime inequality to address two main questions:
We look at lifetime inequality and the redistribution properties of taxes and benefits using a dynamic life-cycle model of women’s education, labour supply and savings with family dynamics and rich individual heterogeneity in preferences and productivity.
The model is coupled with a detailed description of the UK personal tax and benefit system and is estimated on UK longitudinal data covering the 1990s and early 2000s.
We show that the tax and benefits system is more redistributive from an annual than from a lifetime perspective, and is most progressive at the bottom of the income distribution in both cases.
We then establish that heterogeneity in family experiences throughout adult life is the main vehicle through which the tax and benefits system moderates lifetime inequality. Although transitory, family conditions under which working is especially costly, such as lone-motherhood, are especially prevalent among the lifetime poor. By targeting this group, particularly using policies specifically designed to improve the work incentives of those with the lowest earnings capacity, the tax and benefits system does achieve life-cycle redistribution. Other policies like universal benefits towards family with children are less well targeted towards the lifetime poor but are more progressive and improve the work incentives in the middle 60% of the distribution of lifetime income.
JEL codes: H23, H24, I24, I38, J22, J24,
Full text (PDF 50pp)
Published by Institute for Fiscal Studies in October 2012 [I must have missed it at the time but it’s definitely worth reading]
Abstract
In this paper we look at lifetime inequality to address two main questions:
- How well does a modern tax system, based on annual information, target lifetime inequality?
- What aspects of the transfer system are most progressive from a lifetime perspective?
We look at lifetime inequality and the redistribution properties of taxes and benefits using a dynamic life-cycle model of women’s education, labour supply and savings with family dynamics and rich individual heterogeneity in preferences and productivity.
The model is coupled with a detailed description of the UK personal tax and benefit system and is estimated on UK longitudinal data covering the 1990s and early 2000s.
We show that the tax and benefits system is more redistributive from an annual than from a lifetime perspective, and is most progressive at the bottom of the income distribution in both cases.
We then establish that heterogeneity in family experiences throughout adult life is the main vehicle through which the tax and benefits system moderates lifetime inequality. Although transitory, family conditions under which working is especially costly, such as lone-motherhood, are especially prevalent among the lifetime poor. By targeting this group, particularly using policies specifically designed to improve the work incentives of those with the lowest earnings capacity, the tax and benefits system does achieve life-cycle redistribution. Other policies like universal benefits towards family with children are less well targeted towards the lifetime poor but are more progressive and improve the work incentives in the middle 60% of the distribution of lifetime income.
JEL codes: H23, H24, I24, I38, J22, J24,
Full text (PDF 50pp)
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Revisiting ‘mothers and sons’ preference formation and the female labor force in Switzerland
an article by Aline Bütikofer (Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway) published in Labour Economics Volume 20 (January 2013)
Abstract
This paper analyses the interrelation between men’s gender role attitudes and female labour supply decision. Following Fernández et al. (2004), I argue that the recent increases in the female labour market participation rate are driven by the growing proportion of men who were brought up in a family with a working mother.
First, the paper re-examines the results of the cross-section analysis of Fernández et al. (2004) using the Swiss Household Panel 2005 to illustrate that married women whose mothers-in-law were working are themselves significantly more likely to be in the labour force.
In a second step, the paper attempts to test one of their model’s crucial mechanisms and show that the effect of a wife’s labour market integration on her husband’s well-being diverges depending on the former labour market status of his mother.
Taken together, this evidence can be interpreted as varying preferences for women with high labour market integration due to exposure to certain sexual stereotypes early in life.
Highlights
► I analyse interrelations between marriage choice and female labour supply decision.
► Married women are more likely to work when their mothers-in-law were working.
► A wife's contribution to household income reduces her husband's satisfaction.
► The negative effect is only significant when the husband raised by working a mother.
JEL Classification J22, I31, J12
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Abstract
This paper analyses the interrelation between men’s gender role attitudes and female labour supply decision. Following Fernández et al. (2004), I argue that the recent increases in the female labour market participation rate are driven by the growing proportion of men who were brought up in a family with a working mother.
First, the paper re-examines the results of the cross-section analysis of Fernández et al. (2004) using the Swiss Household Panel 2005 to illustrate that married women whose mothers-in-law were working are themselves significantly more likely to be in the labour force.
In a second step, the paper attempts to test one of their model’s crucial mechanisms and show that the effect of a wife’s labour market integration on her husband’s well-being diverges depending on the former labour market status of his mother.
Taken together, this evidence can be interpreted as varying preferences for women with high labour market integration due to exposure to certain sexual stereotypes early in life.
Highlights
► I analyse interrelations between marriage choice and female labour supply decision.
► Married women are more likely to work when their mothers-in-law were working.
► A wife's contribution to household income reduces her husband's satisfaction.
► The negative effect is only significant when the husband raised by working a mother.
JEL Classification J22, I31, J12
Full text (PDF 10pp)
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Female Employment and Fertility - The Effects of Rising Female Wages
a CEP Discussion Paper (No 1156 (July 2012)) by Christian Siegel (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science)
Abstract
Increases in female employment and falling fertility rates have often been linked to rising female wages. However, over the last 30 years the US total fertility rate has been fairly stable while female wages have continued to grow. Over the same period, we observe that women’s hours spent on housework have declined, but men’s have increased.
I propose a model with a shrinking gender wage gap that can capture these trends.
While rising relative wages tend to increase women’s labour supply and, due to higher opportunity cost, lower fertility, they also lead to a partial reallocation of home production from women to men, and a higher use of labour-saving inputs into home production.
I find that both these trends are important in understanding why fertility did not decline to even lower levels. As the gender wage gap declines, a father’s time at home becomes more important for raising children.
When the disutilities from working in the market and at home are imperfect substitutes, fertility can stabilize, after an initial decline, in times of increasing female market labour. That parents can acquire more market inputs into child care is what I find important in matching the timing of fertility. In a mode l extension, I show that the results are robust to intrahousehold bargaining.
JEL Classifications: D13, E24, J13, J22
Full text (PDF 56pp)
See also: Clash of Career and Family: fertility decisions after job displacement
Abstract
Increases in female employment and falling fertility rates have often been linked to rising female wages. However, over the last 30 years the US total fertility rate has been fairly stable while female wages have continued to grow. Over the same period, we observe that women’s hours spent on housework have declined, but men’s have increased.
I propose a model with a shrinking gender wage gap that can capture these trends.
While rising relative wages tend to increase women’s labour supply and, due to higher opportunity cost, lower fertility, they also lead to a partial reallocation of home production from women to men, and a higher use of labour-saving inputs into home production.
I find that both these trends are important in understanding why fertility did not decline to even lower levels. As the gender wage gap declines, a father’s time at home becomes more important for raising children.
When the disutilities from working in the market and at home are imperfect substitutes, fertility can stabilize, after an initial decline, in times of increasing female market labour. That parents can acquire more market inputs into child care is what I find important in matching the timing of fertility. In a mode l extension, I show that the results are robust to intrahousehold bargaining.
JEL Classifications: D13, E24, J13, J22
Full text (PDF 56pp)
See also: Clash of Career and Family: fertility decisions after job displacement
Monday, 20 August 2012
Non-traditional dual earners in Norway: when does she work at least as much as he?
an article by Ragni Hege Kitterød and Marit Rønsen (Statistics Norway) published in Work Employment & Society Volume 26 Number 4 (August 2012)
Abstract
An equal division of paid and unpaid work in couples is a central political ambition in many countries.
Utilizing a survey from 2007, this article finds that many Norwegian women perform approximately as much paid work as their partner. Still, few work more than their partners and about half work less than them.
Domestic commitments as well as the partners’ labour market resources affect women’s allocation of paid work, but the highly gender-segregated labour market also plays an important role.
When the woman works most, her spouse often has health problems, is unemployed or retired.
In dual-earner couples women with longer hours than their partner are often well educated, self-employed, managers, have no young children or a partner in the public sector.
Women with young children or health restrictions often work less than their partner, as do those with a partner who is self-employed, holds a managerial position or a private-sector job.
Abstract
An equal division of paid and unpaid work in couples is a central political ambition in many countries.
Utilizing a survey from 2007, this article finds that many Norwegian women perform approximately as much paid work as their partner. Still, few work more than their partners and about half work less than them.
Domestic commitments as well as the partners’ labour market resources affect women’s allocation of paid work, but the highly gender-segregated labour market also plays an important role.
When the woman works most, her spouse often has health problems, is unemployed or retired.
In dual-earner couples women with longer hours than their partner are often well educated, self-employed, managers, have no young children or a partner in the public sector.
Women with young children or health restrictions often work less than their partner, as do those with a partner who is self-employed, holds a managerial position or a private-sector job.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Setting the scene: The mix of family policy objectives and packages across the OECD
an article by Willem Adema (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 34 Issue 3 (March 2012)
Abstract
Although changing in shape and form, families remain the cornerstone of society. Across the OECD public policy supports families, but across countries the balance of underlying policy objectives can be different. For example, in some countries, family policy is largely driven by concerns about persistently low birth-rates while in others such concerns are not considered to be within the public domain.
Across the OECD policy-makers are concerned about child well-being and child development, but the intensity with which policy is driven by gender equity concerns varies considerably.
These different emphases on policy objectives affect the existing mix of policy measures, and it is therefore no surprise, that across countries, the relative importance of financial (cash and fiscal) supports, measures facilitating time for caring and family services (including childcare) also varies. However, for a coherent policy discharge it is vital that the different family policy tools fit together neatly, and do not leave families with gaps in support during the early life-course.
Moreover, for equity and efficiency considerations it is important that policy starts to invest in families with children early in childhood, while many OECD countries still leave it until primary school for investment to take shape.
JEL classification: I300; J130
NB: You can view the graphs and charts from the article, but not the text, here without logging in.
Abstract
Although changing in shape and form, families remain the cornerstone of society. Across the OECD public policy supports families, but across countries the balance of underlying policy objectives can be different. For example, in some countries, family policy is largely driven by concerns about persistently low birth-rates while in others such concerns are not considered to be within the public domain.
Across the OECD policy-makers are concerned about child well-being and child development, but the intensity with which policy is driven by gender equity concerns varies considerably.
These different emphases on policy objectives affect the existing mix of policy measures, and it is therefore no surprise, that across countries, the relative importance of financial (cash and fiscal) supports, measures facilitating time for caring and family services (including childcare) also varies. However, for a coherent policy discharge it is vital that the different family policy tools fit together neatly, and do not leave families with gaps in support during the early life-course.
Moreover, for equity and efficiency considerations it is important that policy starts to invest in families with children early in childhood, while many OECD countries still leave it until primary school for investment to take shape.
JEL classification: I300; J130
NB: You can view the graphs and charts from the article, but not the text, here without logging in.
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