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Has the Rise of Work from Home Reduced the Motherhood Penalty in the Labor Market?

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Listed:
  • Emma Harrington
  • Matthew E. Kahn

Abstract

When women become mothers, they often take a step back from their careers. Could work from home (WFH) reduce this motherhood penalty, particularly in traditionally family-unfriendly careers? We leverage technological changes prior to the pandemic that increased the feasibility of WFH in some college degrees but not others. In degrees where WFH increased, motherhood gaps in employment narrowed: for every 10% increase in WFH, mothers’ employment rates increased by 0.78 per centage points (or 0.94%) relative to other women’s. This change is driven by majors linked to careers that have high returns to hours and inflexible demands on workers’ time. We microfound these results using panel data that show that women who could WFH before childbirth are less likely to exit the workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Harrington & Matthew E. Kahn, 2025. "Has the Rise of Work from Home Reduced the Motherhood Penalty in the Labor Market?," NBER Working Papers 34147, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34147
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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