IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/reveho/v23y2025i2d10.1007_s11150-025-09766-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heterogeneous effects of school reopenings on the labor supply of parents of young school-age children

Author

Listed:
  • Misty L. Heggeness

    (University of Kansas)

  • Ana Sofía León

    (Universidad Diego Portales)

Abstract

Like most countries, the Chilean government closed schools as part of its pandemic public health mandates. In this paper, we study the impact of central planner variation in school reopenings on parental labor supply focusing on the initial three months after schools partially reopened. Mothers’ labor force participation decreased by 5.1 percentage points (ppts) one month after reopening relative to mothers near closed schools and decreased by 9.5 ppts among householder mothers. Two or three months later, mothers who remained in the labor force saw a minimal increase in their ability to actively work and, more specifically, to work in informal jobs. The labor force participation of fathers increased anywhere from 2.0 to 2.9 ppts and by as much as 10.7 ppts for non-householder fathers. Unplanned care interruptions during school reopening had differential effects on parental labor supply. Our findings support a theory that parental labor supply is sensitive to childcare transitions both in terms of gender and the householder status of the parent.

Suggested Citation

  • Misty L. Heggeness & Ana Sofía León, 2025. "Heterogeneous effects of school reopenings on the labor supply of parents of young school-age children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 551-587, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:23:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11150-025-09766-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-025-09766-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11150-025-09766-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11150-025-09766-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Jonah B. Gelbach, 2002. "Public Schooling for Young Children and Maternal Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 307-322, March.
    3. Pierre‐Loup Beauregard & Marie Connolly & Catherine Haeck & Tímea Laura Molnár, 2022. "Primary school reopenings and parental work," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 248-281, February.
    4. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales & Almudena Sevilla, 2023. "Schooling and Parental Labor Supply: Evidence from COVID-19 School Closures in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(1), pages 56-85, January.
    5. Fernando Díaz & Pablo A Henríquez, 2021. "Social sentiment segregation: Evidence from Twitter and Google Trends in Chile during the COVID-19 dynamic quarantine strategy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-29, July.
    6. Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick, 2010. "Preschoolers Enrolled and Mothers at Work? The Effects of Universal Prekindergarten," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(1), pages 51-85, January.
    7. Brinca, Pedro & Duarte, Joao B. & Faria-e-Castro, Miguel, 2021. "Measuring labor supply and demand shocks during COVID-19," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. Misty Heggeness & Palak Suri, 2021. "Telework, Childcare, and Mothers’ Labor Supply," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 52, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    9. Almudena Sevilla & Sarah Smith, 2020. "Baby steps: the gender division of childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(Supplemen), pages 169-186.
    10. Elizabeth U. Cascio, 2009. "Maternal Labor Supply and the Introduction of Kindergartens into American Public Schools," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    11. Cl'ement de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultf{oe}uille, 2020. "Difference-in-Differences Estimators of Intertemporal Treatment Effects," Papers 2007.04267, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    12. Misty Heggeness, 2020. "Why Is Mommy So Stressed? Estimating the Immediate Impact of the COVID-19 Shock on Parental Attachment to the Labor Market and the Double Bind of Mothers," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 33, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    13. Misty L. Heggeness, 2020. "Estimating the immediate impact of the COVID-19 shock on parental attachment to the labor market and the double bind of mothers," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1053-1078, December.
    14. Marcos A. Rangel, 2006. "Alimony Rights and Intrahousehold Allocation of Resources: Evidence from Brazil," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(513), pages 627-658, July.
    15. Valenzuela, Juan Pablo & Kuzmanic, Danilo & Cortés, Fernanda, 2024. "Socioeconomic inequalities in opportunities and participation in in-person learning during the Covid-19 pandemic," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    16. Shelly J. Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak & Terence J. Wales, 1997. "Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 463-480.
    17. Lídia Farré & Yarine Fawaz & Libertad González & Jennifer Graves, 2022. "Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work During Covid‐19 Times," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 323-347, June.
    18. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Marcén, Miriam & Morales, Marina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2023. "Schooling and parental labor supply: evidence from COVID-19 school closures in the United States," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122402, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick, 2012. "Revising Our Thinking About the Relationship Between Maternal Labor Supply and Preschool," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 583-612.
    20. Heggeness, Misty L., 2020. "Improving child welfare in middle income countries: The unintended consequence of a pro-homemaker divorce law and wait time to divorce," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    21. Martínez A., Claudia & Perticará, Marcela, 2017. "Childcare effects on maternal employment: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 127-137.
    22. Stefania Albanesi & Jiyeon Kim, 2021. "Effects of the COVID-19 Recession on the US Labor Market: Occupation, Family, and Gender," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 3-24, Summer.
    23. Enrica Croda & Shoshana Grossbard, 2021. "Women pay the price of COVID-19 more than men," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-9, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Misty Heggeness & Ana Sofía León, 2023. "Parenthood and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Chile," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 075, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    2. Maria Paola & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2025. "Parental labor market penalties during two years of COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 327-355, March.
    3. Kairon Shayne D. Garcia & Benjamin W. Cowan, 2024. "Childcare Responsibilities and Parental Labor Market Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 153-200, June.
    4. Ajayi, Kehinde F. & Dao,Aziz & Koussoube,Mousson Estelle Jamel, 2022. "The Effects of Childcare on Women and Children : Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation inBurkina Faso," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10239, The World Bank.
    5. Lisa Hanzl & Miriam Rehm, 2023. "Less Work, More Labor: School Closures and Work Hours During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 252-284, October.
    6. Barkowski, Scott & McLaughlin, Joanne Song & Dai, Yinlin, 2020. "Young Children and Parents' Labor Supply during COVID-19," MPRA Paper 102107, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Jul 2020.
    7. Audrey Bousselin, 2022. "Access to universal childcare and its effect on maternal employment," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 497-532, June.
    8. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Victoria Vernon, 2023. "Who is doing the chores and childcare in dual-earner couples during the COVID-19 era of working from home?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 519-565, June.
    9. Elsner, Benjamin & Jindal, Manvi & Mascherini, Massimiliano & Nivakoski, Sanna, 2024. "Gender Gaps in Time Use: Pan-European Evidence from School Closures during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IZA Discussion Papers 17151, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Caroline Krafft & Moundir Lassassi, 2024. "Public Pre-Primary and Maternal Employment in Algeria: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 38(1), pages 74-94.
    11. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2023. "COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Lisette Swart & Wiljan van den Berge & Karen van der Wiel, 2019. "Do parents work more when children start school? Evidence from the Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 392, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    13. Yamaguchi, Shintaro & Asai, Yukiko & Kambayashi, Ryo, 2018. "Effects of subsidized childcare on mothers’ labor supply under a rationing mechanism," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-17.
    14. Matias Berthelon & Diana Kruger & Melanie Oyarzún, 2023. "School schedules and mothers’ employment: evidence from an education reform," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 131-171, March.
    15. Felfe, Christina & Lechner, Michael & Thiemann, Petra, 2016. "After-school care and parents' labor supply," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 64-75.
    16. Bettendorf, Leon J.H. & Jongen, Egbert L.W. & Muller, Paul, 2015. "Childcare subsidies and labour supply — Evidence from a large Dutch reform," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 112-123.
    17. Hikaru Kawarazaki, 2023. "Early childhood education and care: effects after half a century and their mechanisms," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2725-2797, October.
    18. Misty L. Heggeness, 2020. "Estimating the immediate impact of the COVID-19 shock on parental attachment to the labor market and the double bind of mothers," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1053-1078, December.
    19. Titan Alon & Sena Coskun & Matthias Doepke & David Koll & Michèle Tertilt, 2022. "From Mancession to Shecession: Women’s Employment in Regular and Pandemic Recessions," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 83-151.
    20. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Wrohlich, Katharina, 2020. "Does subsidized care for toddlers increase maternal labor supply? Evidence from a large-scale expansion of early childcare," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:23:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11150-025-09766-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.