Title: Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US
1Early Maternal Employmentand Child Cognitive
Outcomes Evidence from the UK and US
- Denise D. Hawkes
- University of Greenwich and
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies, IoE.
- Danielle A. Crosby
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro
2Study 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 mothers
following child birth - Continued questions about the impact of maternal
employment and leave policies on the well-being
of young children
3Prior Literature
- Several US studies, using a variety of methods,
find that mothers employment during infants
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?
4Selection 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 childrens 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
5Policy 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 childrens centres which
are mainly located in disadvantaged areas in
England
6UK cont.
- New Deal
- Lone parents
- Benefits
- Tax Credits
- Working Families Tax Credit
- Childrens Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit
- European Laws
- European Working Time Directive
- European Social Charter
7Policy 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 employees 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
8US 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
9Current 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 childrens
cognitive outcomes?
10Dataset 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
11Dataset 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
12Analysis 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 UK
Employed Post Birth Unemployed Post Birth
Employed pre-birth 39.0 26.9
Unemployed pre-birth 1.9 32.2
US US
Employed Post Birth Unemployed Post Birth
Employed pre-birth 41.5 21.1
Unemployed pre-birth 9.3 27.4
13Key Variables
- Child Outcomes
- School Readiness
- Vocabulary
- Behaviour
- Early Employment
- Return in first three months
- Return between four and six months
- Return between seven and nine months
- Not employed in first nine months
14Other 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
- Mothers 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
15Distribution 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
16Results - 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
17Results 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.
18Results - 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 -
19Results - 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
20Summary
- MCS
- Cognitive outcomes (school readiness and
vocabulary) unaffected by mothers employment in
the early months once mothers characteristics
included. - Behavioural outcomes worse for those with
mothers employed early - ECLS-B
- School readiness better for those with working
mothers - Vocabulary unaffected by mothers employment in
early months - Behavioural outcomes worse for those with
mothers employed early
21Next 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