Working Papers
"Young Children and Parents’ Labor Supply during COVID-19" with Scott Barkowski and Yinlin Dai
Abstract:
We study the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on the labor supply of parents with young children. Using the monthly Current Population Survey, and following a pre-analysis plan, we use three difference-in-differences variations to compare workers with childcare needs to those without. The first compares parents with young children and those without young children, while the second and third rely on the presence of someone who could provide childcare in the house: a teenager in the second and a grandparent in the third. We analyze three outcomes: whether parents were "at work" (not sick, on vacation, or otherwise away from his or her job); whether they were employed; and hours worked. Contrary to expectation, we find the labor supply of parents with young children was not negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, some evidence suggests parents with young children were more likely to be working after the pandemic unfolded. Moreover, our results are not systematically different for men and women. This suggests that other factors like employer adjustments to allow employees to work at home and the availability of informal sources of childcare allowed parents to avoid major shocks to their labor supply during the pandemic.
Working Paper
Pre-Analysis Plan
Abstract:
We study the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on the labor supply of parents with young children. Using the monthly Current Population Survey, and following a pre-analysis plan, we use three difference-in-differences variations to compare workers with childcare needs to those without. The first compares parents with young children and those without young children, while the second and third rely on the presence of someone who could provide childcare in the house: a teenager in the second and a grandparent in the third. We analyze three outcomes: whether parents were "at work" (not sick, on vacation, or otherwise away from his or her job); whether they were employed; and hours worked. Contrary to expectation, we find the labor supply of parents with young children was not negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, some evidence suggests parents with young children were more likely to be working after the pandemic unfolded. Moreover, our results are not systematically different for men and women. This suggests that other factors like employer adjustments to allow employees to work at home and the availability of informal sources of childcare allowed parents to avoid major shocks to their labor supply during the pandemic.
Working Paper
Pre-Analysis Plan