TY  - JOUR
AU  - Anderson,Patricia M.
AU  - Levine,Philip B.
TI  - Child Care and Mothers' Employment Decisions
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7058
PY  - 1999
Y2  - March 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7058
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7058.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Patricia M. Anderson
Department of Economics
Dartmouth College
6106 Rockefeller
Hanover, NH  03755-3514
Tel: 603/646-2532
Fax: 603/646-2122
E-Mail: patricia.m.anderson@dartmouth.edu

Phillip B. Levine
Department of Economics
Wellesley College
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
Tel: 781/283-2162
Fax: 781/283-2177
E-Mail: plevine@wellesley.edu
AB  - Rising female labor force participation and recent changes to the welfare system have increased the importance of child care for all women and, particularly, the less-skilled.  This paper focuses on the child care decisions of women who differ by their skill level and the role that costs play in their work decision. After reviewing government child-care programs targeted at less-skilled women, we present a descriptive analysis of current utilization and child care costs.  We emphasize differences across skill groups, showing that the least-skilled women both use less costly paid care and are more likely to use unpaid care. We then survey the existing evidence regarding the responsiveness of female labor supply to child care costs, reviewing both econometric studies and demonstration projects that include child care components.  To investigate variation in the response to child care cost across skill levels, we implement models similar to this past literature.  We conclude that while the overall elasticity of labor force participation with respect to the market price of child care is between -0.05 and -0.35, this elasticity is larger for the least skilled women and declines with skill.  Throughout the paper, we reflect upon the implications of our analysis for welfare reform.
ER  -