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Teaching excellence for over 100 years
Early Maternal Employmentand Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US
Denise D. HawkesUniversity of Greenwich and
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, IoE.
Danielle A. CrosbyUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro
Teaching excellence for over 100 years
Study Motivation
Over the past two decades two important trends in the female labour market have been observed:
an increase in the proportion of women in employment
an increase in the participation of mother’s following child birth
Continued questions about the impact of maternal employment and leave policies on the well-being of young children
Teaching excellence for over 100 years
Prior Literature
Several US studies, using a variety of methods, find that mothers’ employment during infant’s first year is associated with poorer outcomes (e.g., Waldfogel, Han, & Brooks-
Gunn, 2002; Ruhm, 2004)
Somewhat similar findings emerge from studies in the UK, but effects have tended to be smaller than those noted for US samples (e.g., Gregg, Washbrook, Propper, & Burgess,
2005; Verropoulou & Joshi, 2007)
To what extent are these effects linked to employment and parental leave policies?
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Selection Issues
Challenges in identifying the true causal effects of mothers’ employment and determining the potential impact of policy
Mothers who choose, are able, or are required to work may differ from those who do not in ways that matter for children’s development (e.g., education)
Work decisions may also depend on child characteristics
Selection processes may differ across SES groups
Selection may also be influenced by policy contexts
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Policy Setting in UK
Statuary Maternity Leave
• First 4 months paid and then 3 months unpaid
Statuary Paternity Leave
• 2 weeks paid leave
Sure Start
• government programme aimed at bring together, early education, childcare, health and family support through their children’s centres which are mainly located in disadvantaged areas in England
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UK cont.
New Deal
• Lone parents
Benefits
Tax Credits
• Working Families Tax Credit
• Children’s Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit
European Laws
• European Working Time Directive
• European Social Charter
Teaching excellence for over 100 years
Policy Setting in US
Parental Leave Policies
• 12 weeks of unpaid, but job-protected, leave
• Leave may be used for the birth of a child; adoption of a child; the illness of a spouse, child or parent; or, the employee’s own health condition.
• Employers may require that workers use any vacation or sick leave time they have as part of the 12 weeks.
• Employers may deny leave to highest paid 10% of its work force (“key” employees) if leave would create problems for the firm
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US cont.
Head Start
• Head Start provides a full range of services (including nutritious meals and snacks, immunizations, and opportunities for parental involvement) to disadvantaged children.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Strongly employment orientated
Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Care Tax Credit
No guarantee of child care assistance to any groups
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Current Study: Research Aims
Use contemporary, longitudinal birth cohort data for nationally representative samples in the US and UK to address the following questions:
How do patterns of mothers’ employment post-birth differ across these two policy/institutional contexts?
What do these data reveal about selection into employment for different groups?
Considering selection issues, what are the effects of early employment on children’s cognitive outcomes?
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Dataset 1: MCS
Millennium Cohort Study
nationally-representative sample of UK births in 2000/2 (n = 18,500+)
over-sampled those who live in areas of: high child poverty, high concentrations of ethnic minorities and the Celtic countries of the UK
in-depth data collected from parent interviews, direct child assessments, observations of home and care settings, and care provider surveys
data available from administrative sources and collected at 9 mos, 3 yrs, 4 ys, and 7 yrs
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Dataset 2: ECLS-B
Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort
nationally-representative sample of US births in 2001 (n = 10,600+)
over-sampled twins, low birth weight infants, and several racial/ethnic groups of interest
in-depth data collected from parent interviews, direct child assessments, observations of home and care settings, and care provider surveys
data available from birth certificates and collected at 9 mos, 2 yrs, 4 ys, and 6 yrs
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Analysis Sample
Focus on low-educated mothers
policy-relevant group
Sample size of women in the low-educated group:
7300 MCS mothers
5052 ECLS-B mothers
UK
Employed Post Birth
Unemployed Post Birth
Employed pre-birth
39.0% 26.9%
Unemployed pre-birth
1.9% 32.2%
US
Employed Post Birth
Unemployed Post Birth
Employed pre-birth
41.5% 21.1%
Unemployed pre-birth
9.3% 27.4%
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Key Variables
Child OutcomesSchool Readiness
Vocabulary
Behaviour
Early EmploymentReturn in first three months
Return between four and six months
Return between seven and nine months
Not employed in first nine months
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Other Independent Variables
Developmental Controls
Age in months and Sex
Child Characteristics
First born, Multiple birth, Low Birth Weight, Mother ever tried breastfeeding, Mother ever smoked during pregnancy, Mother received prenatal care in first trimester
Mothers Characteristics
Mother’s age at birth, Education, Ethnicity, Employed at nine months, General health, Longstanding illness
Family Characteristics
Partnership status, Number of other children in the household, Grandparents in household, Household income, English is primary language spoken at home, Owner occupied home
Area Charateristics
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Distribution of early employment
MCS ECLS-B
Return in first three months
13.3% 11.6%
Return between four and six months
20.2% 20.4%
Return between seven and nine months
9.1% 18.9%
Not employed in first nine months
57.4% 49.1%
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Results - Selection
MCS
Less employment with multiple birth, Pakistani/Bangladeshi, more children,
More employment with first birth, age at birth 25-29, employment prior to birth, grandparent in household, owner occupier, London
ECLS-B
Less employment with multiple birth, more children, marriage and work limiting condition
More employment with Asian Pacific Islander or Multiracial ethnicity, higher education, employment prior to birth, and living in the Midwest
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Results – School Readiness
MCS
In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found.
ECLS-B
In full model, work in first 9 months is associated with higher scores; model with categories to capture timing of entry into employment indicates positive effects for employment that begins after child is 3 months old.
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Results - Vocabulary
MCS
In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found.
ECLS-B
No relationship between early employment and language scores
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Results - Behaviour
MCS
In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found to be negative and significant at 10%.
ECLS-B
Employment begun between 3 and 6 months is associated with slightly less problem behaviour
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Summary
MCS
Cognitive outcomes (school readiness and vocabulary) unaffected by mother’s employment in the early months once mother’s characteristics included.
Behavioural outcomes worse for those with mother’s employed early
ECLS-B
School readiness better for those with working mothers
Vocabulary unaffected by mother’s employment in early months
Behavioural outcomes worse for those with mother’s employed early
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Next Steps
Potential sub-group analysis:
low educated mothers who were employed one year before the birth of the cohort member
low educated mothers for whom the cohort member is their first child
Further paper using SEM to understand more fully the processes and to fully integrate the impact of the selection into employment process
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