A dynamic analysis of the effect of child care costs on the work decisions of low-income mothers with infants.

Child care costs reduce the net benefit of working and consequently influence mothers' decisions to work. They affect the employment of low-income mothers in particular because they represent a larger portion of these mothers' earnings. I used a hazard framework to examine a mother's decisions about...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Demography Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 139 - 165
Autor principal: Baum, Charles L.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Science & Business Media B.V. February 2002
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Child care costs reduce the net benefit of working and consequently influence mothers' decisions to work. They affect the employment of low-income mothers in particular because they represent a larger portion of these mothers' earnings. I used a hazard framework to examine a mother's decisions about work and hours of work after childbirth. I focused on low-income mothers with infants because they are the ones who may be most affected by child care costs. The results showed that child care costs are a barrier to work that is larger for low-income mothers than for non-low-income mothers. Further, child care costs have large negative effects on hours of work. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.