Schools, Job Flexibility, and Married Women's Labor Supply
This study examines the employment effects of a large shock to mothers' childcare costs generated by the availability of in-person K-12 instruction during the COVID- 19 pandemic. We proxy for school attendance using smartphone data from Safegraph. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find K-12 reopenings are associated with increases in employment and hours among married women with school-aged children with no measurable effects on labor supply of childless women, custodial fathers, or unmarried women. Event-study analyses are consistent with a causal interpretation. Major activity responses show school reopenings reduced married women remaining out of the labor force to care for children.
-
-
Copy CitationBenjamin Hansen, Joseph J. Sabia, and Jessamyn Schaller, "Schools, Job Flexibility, and Married Women's Labor Supply," NBER Working Paper 29660 (2022), https://doi.org/10.3386/w29660.Download Citation
-
Non-Technical Summaries
- Two new studies show that school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced parents’ labor market activity. They...
Published Versions
Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Jessamyn Schaller, 2026. "Schools, Job Flexibility, and Married Women’s Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, vol 61(4), pages 1295-1319.
Related
Mentioned in the News
More from the NBER
In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.
