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Child Care and Female Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Whelan

    (University of Sydney)

  • Anu Rammohan

    (University of Sydney)

Abstract

The extent to which maternal employment is influenced by the affordability of child care is the subject of empirical ambiguity in Australian studies. We contribute to this debate by examining the relationship between maternal employment decisions and child care costs using the HILDA (Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) dataset. Our analysis finds that the use of child care for both employment and non-employment purposes is extensive in Australia. A key result of our analysis is that for married mothers the cost of child care is relatively unimportant in both the decision to participate in the labour market, and, given the decision to work, the number of hours worked.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Whelan & Anu Rammohan, 2005. "Child Care and Female Decisions," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 8(2), pages 203-225, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:8:y:2005:i:2:p:203-225
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    6. Deborah Schofield & Josh Polette, 1998. "Measuring the Impact of Child Care Subsidies on the Incomes of Mothers Returning to Work," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 31(1), pages 47-62, March.
    7. Jean Kimmel, 1998. "Child Care Costs As A Barrier To Employment For Single And Married Mothers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 287-299, May.
    8. Rosanna Scutella, 2000. "Labour supply estimates for married women in Australia," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 4(3), pages 152-172, September.
    9. Philip K. Robins & Charles Michalopoulos, 2002. "Employment and child-care choices of single-parent families in Canada and the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(3), pages 465-493.
    10. Bruce Chapman & Yvonne Dunlop & Matthew Gray & Amy Liu & Deborah Mitchell, 2001. "The Impact of Children on the Lifetime Earnings of Australian Women: Evidence from the 1990s," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 34(4), pages 373-389, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Wooden & Nicole Watson, 2007. "The HILDA Survey and its Contribution to Economic and Social Research (So Far)," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 208-231, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Yin King Fok & Sung-Hee Jeon & Roger Wilkins, 2009. "Does Part-Time Employment Help or Hinder Lone Mothers Movements into Full-Time Employment?," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2009n25, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. S.P. Premaratne, 2011. "Household Labour Supply in Sri Lanka for Urban Young Couple with Pre-school Children," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 12(2), pages 323-338, September.
    5. Xiaodong Gong & Robert Breunig & Anthony King, 2010. "New estimates of the relationship between female labour supply and the cost, availability, and quality of child care," Economic Roundup, The Treasury, Australian Government, issue 1, pages 51-62, April.
    6. Chhavi Tiwari & Srinivas Goli & Anu Rammohan, 2022. "Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2493-2529, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Xiaodong Gong & Robert Breuing, 2011. "Estimating Net Child Care Price Elasticities of Partnered Women With Pre-School Children Using a Discrete Structural Labour Supply-Child Care Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 653, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    9. Chikako Yamauchi, 2010. "The availability of child care centers, perceived search costs and parental life satisfaction," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 231-253, June.
    10. Guyonne Kalb, 2009. "Children, Labour Supply and Child Care: Challenges for Empirical Analysis," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 276-299, September.
    11. Robert Breunig & Joseph Mercante, 2010. "The Accuracy of Predicted Wages of the Non‐Employed and Implications for Policy Simulations from Structural Labour Supply Models," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(272), pages 49-70, March.
    12. Guyonne Kalb & Wang‐Sheng Lee, 2008. "Childcare Use And Parents’ Labour Supply In Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 272-295, September.
    13. Anu Rammohan & Stephen Whelan, 2006. "Child Care Costs and the Employment Status of Married Australian Mothers," CEPR Discussion Papers 517, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    14. 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.
    15. Justine McNamara & Rebecca Cassells, 2006. "Trends in child care use and cost between 1999 and 2002," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(2), pages 125-146, June.
    16. Ian Davidoff, 2007. "Evidence on the child care market," Economic Roundup, The Treasury, Australian Government, issue 1, pages 67-81, February.
    17. Lixin Cai, 2018. "Dynamic Labour Supply of Married Australian Women," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 32(3), pages 427-450, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household Production and Intra-household Allocation; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth; Economics of Gender; Non-labour Discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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