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Parental sleep and employment: evidence from a British cohort study

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  • Joan Costa-Font
  • Sarah Flèche

Abstract

We show that sleep deprivation exerts a strong negative effect on labour market performance. We exploit variations in child sleep quality to instrument for parental sleep quality. A one-hour reduction in sleep duration significantly decreases labour force participation, the number of hours worked and household income. In addition, we find that low-skilled mothers are more likely to opt out of the labour market and work less hours than high-skilled mothers when exposed to sleep deprivation. We argue that sleep is a major determinant of employment outcomes that needs more attention in designing economic models of time allocation and employment policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan Costa-Font & Sarah Flèche, 2017. "Parental sleep and employment: evidence from a British cohort study," CEP Discussion Papers dp1467, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1467
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lisa A. Kramer & Mark J. Kamstra & Maurice D. Levi, 2000. "Losing Sleep at the Market: The Daylight Saving Anomaly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 1005-1011, September.
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    6. Pierre Brochu & Catherine Armstrong & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2012. "The ‘trendiness’ of sleep: an empirical investigation into the cyclical nature of sleep time," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 891-913, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Clark & David L. Dickinson, 2017. "The Impact of Sleep Restriction on Contributions and Punishment: First Evidence," Working Papers 17-04, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    2. Jeremy Clark & David L Dickinson, 2020. "The effect of sleep on public good contributions and punishment: Experimental evidence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-26, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child sleep; sleep; maternal employment; working hours; job satisfaction; ALSPAC;
    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
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy

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