Teaching excellence for over 100 years Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US Denise D. Hawkes University

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


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


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?


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


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


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


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


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


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?


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


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


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%


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


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


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%


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


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.


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


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


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


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

Documents

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US Denise D. Hawkes University