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Working parents and total factor productivity growth

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  • Geoffrey Dunbar
  • Stephen Easton

Abstract

Since 1963, changes in the family composition of the US labor force explain more than half of the variability in US total factor productivity growth. Using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, we document the rise of two (and single) working-parent families in the USA. We augment a standard growth-accounting equation to differentiate between parental and nonparental labor inputs and find that accounting for the parental composition of the labor force explains roughly 50 % of total factor productivity growth, the productivity slowdown of the 1970s, and the productivity rise of the 1990s. The parental composition of the workforce also helps to explain labor productivity differences across US states while controlling for differences in the age and gender profile of workers across states does not. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey Dunbar & Stephen Easton, 2013. "Working parents and total factor productivity growth," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 1431-1456, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:26:y:2013:i:4:p:1431-1456
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-012-0426-8
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dunbar, Geoffrey R., 2013. "The Family and Medical Leave Act and the labor productivity of parents," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 334-336.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Total factor productivity; Growth accounting; Working parents; Productivity slowdown; E23; E32; O47;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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