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Child Care Availability, Quality and Affordability: Are Local Problems Related to Labour Supply?

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  • ROBERT BREUNIG
  • ANDREW WEISS
  • CHIKAKO YAMAUCHI
  • XIAODONG GONG
  • JOSEPH MERCANTE

Abstract

We examine whether responses to survey questions about child care availability, quality and cost, aggregated at the local geographical level, have any explanatory power in models of partnered female and lone parent labour supply. We find evidence that partnered women and lone parents who live in areas with more reports of lack of availability, low quality or costly child care work fewer hours and are less likely to work than women in areas with fewer reported difficulties with child care.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Breunig & Andrew Weiss & Chikako Yamauchi & Xiaodong Gong & Joseph Mercante, 2011. "Child Care Availability, Quality and Affordability: Are Local Problems Related to Labour Supply?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(276), pages 109-124, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:87:y:2011:i:276:p:109-124
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00707.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeff Borland, 2011. "The Australian Labour Market in the 2000s: The Quiet Decade," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Hugo Gerard & Jonathan Kearns (ed.),The Australian Economy in the 2000s, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    2. Blumenberg, Evelyn & Wander, Madeline & Yao, Zhiyuan, 2024. "Decisions & distance: The relationship between child care access and child care travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Levin, Mark (Левин, Марк) & Oshchepkov, Aleksey (Ощепков, Алексей) & Shilova, Nadezhda (Шилова, Надежда), 2017. "Estimating Demand for preschools in Russia [Спрос На Услуги Дошкольных Образовательных Организаций: Эмпирический Анализ]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 2, pages 100-131, April.
    4. Robert Breunig & Xiaodong Gong & Anthony King, 2012. "Partnered Women's Labour Supply and Child‐Care Costs in Australia: Measurement Error and the Child‐Care Price," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(s1), pages 51-69, June.
    5. Barbara Hanel, 2012. "The Impact of Paid Maternity Leave on Labour Market Outcomes," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n19, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    6. Hyunjoong Kim & Fahui Wang, 2019. "Disparity in Spatial Access to Public Daycare and Kindergarten across GIS-Constructed Regions in Seoul, South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Barbara Hanel, 2013. "The Impact of Paid Maternity Leave Rights on Labour Market Outcomes," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(286), pages 339-366, September.
    8. Bruno Arpino & Francesca Luppi, 2020. "Childcare arrangements and working mothers’ satisfaction with work‒family balance," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(19), pages 549-588.
    9. Ross Guest & Nick Parr, 2013. "Family policy and couples’ labour supply: an empirical assessment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1631-1660, October.

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    Keywords

    J22 ; J30 ; J64 ;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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