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Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US

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Title: Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US


1
Early 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

2
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 mothers
    following child birth
  • Continued questions about the impact of maternal
    employment and leave policies on the well-being
    of young children

3
Prior 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?

4
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 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

5
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 childrens centres which
    are mainly located in disadvantaged areas in
    England

6
UK 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

7
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 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

8
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

9
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 childrens
    cognitive outcomes?

10
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

11
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

12
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 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
13
Key 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

14
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
  • 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

15
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
16
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

17
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.

18
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
  •  

19
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

20
Summary
  • 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

21
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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