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 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.
Baum
Charles L
CL
Economics and Finance Department, Box 27, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA. cbaum@mtsu.edu
D000328:Adult; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D011632:Public Assistance; D014481:United States