More Hours, More Work: Head Start Expansions Boost Maternal Employment

We thank Carolyn Davin, Roberto Mendoza, Chris Monjaras, and Cindy Rojas for excellent research assistance, and staff members at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for help in understanding programmatic developments in Head Start. We are grateful to Liz Cascio, Anamarie Whitaker, and Jocelyn Wikle for insightful feedback, and to conference participants at the AEA, APPAM, SEA, and SOLE annual meetings, MidSouth Education Policy Workshop, the Atlanta Workshop on Public Policy and Child Well-being, and the NBER Children and Families Spring Meetings for helpful comments. Gibbs gratefully acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (SES-1824511) and the Russell Sage Foundation. Any errors or omissions are solely the responsibility of the authors. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• February 10, 2026