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Motherhood, migration, and self-employment of college graduates

Author

Listed:
  • Zhengyu Cai

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
    Global Labor Organization (GLO))

  • Heather M. Stephens

    (Global Labor Organization (GLO)
    West Virginia University)

  • John V. Winters

    (Global Labor Organization (GLO)
    Iowa State University
    Institute of Labor Economics (IZA))

Abstract

Women face unique challenges in starting and running their own businesses and may have differing motives to men for pursuing self-employment. Previous research suggests that married women with families value the flexibility that self-employment can offer, allowing them to balance their family responsibilities with their career aspirations. This may be especially true for college graduates, who tend to have more successful businesses. Access to childcare may also affect their labor force decisions. Using American Community Survey microdata, we examine how birth-place residence, a proxy for access to extended family and childcare, relates to self-employment and hours worked for college graduate married mothers. Our results suggest that flexibility is a major factor pulling out-migrant college-educated mothers into self-employment. Additionally, it appears that, in response to fewer childcare options, self-employed mothers away from their birth-place work fewer hours, while self-employed mothers residing in their birth-place are able to work more hours per week.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhengyu Cai & Heather M. Stephens & John V. Winters, 2019. "Motherhood, migration, and self-employment of college graduates," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 611-629, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:53:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-019-00177-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00177-2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Motherhood; Migration; Self-employment; Childcare; Hours worked;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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