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Child care availability, quality and affordability: are local problems related to maternal labour supply ?

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  • Xiaodong Gong

    (Treasury, Government of Australia)

  • Robert Breunig

    (Treasury, Government of Australia and Research School of Economics, Australian National University)

Abstract

We examine whether subjective responses to survey questions about child care availability, quality, and cost, aggregated at the local geographical level, have any explanatory power in models of workforce participation and labour supply. We find that married women who live in areas with more reports of lack of availability, low quality, or costly childcare work less than women in areas with fewer reported difficulties with child care. We find this effect on both the hours of labour supplied and on the part-time/full-time choice. We find almost no effects for lone parents.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaodong Gong & Robert Breunig, 2010. "Child care availability, quality and affordability: are local problems related to maternal labour supply ?," Treasury Working Papers 2010-02, The Treasury, Australian Government, revised Apr 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:tsy:wpaper:wpaper_tsy_wp_2010_2
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    Cited by:

    1. Robert Breunig & Andrew Weiss & Chikako Yamauchi & Xiaodong Gong & Joseph Mercante, 2011. "Child Care Availability, Quality and Affordability: Are Local Problems Related to Labour Supply?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(276), pages 109-124, March.
    2. Xiaodong Gong & Robert Breunig & Anthony King, 2010. "New estimates of the relationship between female labour supply and the cost, availability, and quality of child care," Economic Roundup, The Treasury, Australian Government, issue 1, pages 51-62, April.
    3. Mideros Andrés & O’Donoghue Cathal, 2015. "The Effect of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Adult Labour Supply: A Unitary Discrete Choice Model for the Case of Ecuador," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 225-255, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour Labour supply; child care; local area effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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