Principal investigator: Eduarda Miller de Figueiredo
Article title: CHILDCARE EFFECTS ON MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT: EVIDENCE FROM CHILE
Article authors: Claudia Martínez A. and Marcela Perticará
Location of the intervention: Chile
Sample size: 25 schools – 2.110 participants
Main theme: Labor market
Type of Intervention: Offering after-school care in an educational setting.
Primary variable of interest: Female workforce
Evaluation method: Experimental Evaluation (RCT)
Policy Problem
The workforce is different for men and women. Considering the entire world in 2014, female labor force participation (FLFP) reached 55,3% while male participation was 81,7%. One possible reason for this is that women dedicate more time to domestic work and childcare (Berniell and Sánchez-Páramo, 2011). However, equal access to the labor market is a measure of gender equality, as well as a tool for growth (Duflo, 2012).
Furthermore, this greater female representation in the workforce is also a poverty reduction strategy, as female-headed households are more densely populated in the lowest income quintiles in Latin America (Araujo and López-Boo, 2015). In Chile, 51% of households have women as heads of household.
Research in other continents has shown that the use of childcare increases the likelihood of employment by 10 percentage points, with other studies finding even stronger effects for single mothers (Goux and Maurin, 2010; Nollenberger and Rodriguez-Planas, 2015).
Assessment Context
In Chile, women represent 40% of the total labor supply, and the difference in labor force participation rate (LFPR) between men and women is approximately 25 percentage points, increasing to 30-35 percentage points during periods associated with childbirth and childcare. Women cite childcare as a reason for not participating in the labor market, with 20% being women with children aged 6 to 13 and 30% being those with children aged 0 to 5.
Furthermore, women face the problem of the lack of childcare for older children after school hours, since public primary schools close at 16 pm, with some exceptions when they close at 13 pm. Since 2006, Chile has expanded public childcare for children under five years old with the aim of improving capital and FLFP rates, with facilities increasingly offering services until 19 pm, making it compatible with full-time working hours. However, studies have found that FLFP has not shown an effect on average from this expansion.
Policy Details
The 4-7 program offers three hours of after-school care at an educational facility for children aged 6 to 13 while their mothers are working, looking for work, or participating in training courses or formal education programs. This will allow for the integration and attachment to the workforce by women who are responsible for their children.
The program operated after school hours during the week in 2012, and schedules could be adjusted according to school hours. Regardless of the operating hours, all establishments were required to provide care for at least 3 hours per day. Children had time to do their homework, as well as time for extracurricular activities such as art and sports. Thus, the free daycare allows mothers who care for their children in the afternoon to send them to the program and use that time for other activities.
Assessment Method
The Chilean municipalities selected to participate in the program were chosen by observing other existing programs in that territory, the number of children in the program's age range who were in municipal schools, and the proportion of economically active women in that municipality compared to the regional average.
The program was conducted in 25 schools across 21 municipalities in 2012. Each mother wishing to participate in the program had to complete a form to assess the eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirements included:
- Mothers and/or women responsible for at least one child between the ages of 6 and 13;
- Mothers and/or women over 18 years of age who work or reside in the municipality where the educational institution is located, or who have at least one child studying at that institution;
- Mothers and/or women with lower scores on the Social Protection Index.
After completing the form with family data, the applications were randomized and separated into treatment and control groups, with the mother as the randomization unit. Participants in the treatment group were given a place in the program, while those in the control group were not invited. Therefore, out of 2.110 participants, 973 women were selected for the control group and 1.137 for the treatment group. Considering the entire sample, 62% are employed women without children under 5 years old, 369 are employed mothers with young children, and 109 are non-working mothers with young children.
At the end of 2012, qualitative and quantitative information was collected on the implementation of the program through visits to participating schools. In addition, a household survey conducted in 2013 requested information on the women's work history, as well as their involvement in daycare centers and participation in the program.
Results
The intention-to-treat (ITT) effect was estimated, considering the effect of the government offering the option of after-school care and allowing each family to decide how much treatment they need. That is, they can send the child to this facility every day, all year round, or only a few times a week.
The program's availability increased the use of formal childcare for children under 6 years old by 6,5 percentage points, and this effect was driven by an increase in the use of free childcare. The availability of a place in the program increases the likelihood of a woman participating in the labor market, a 7% increase compared to the control group average. Furthermore, it increases the likelihood of working for at least one month by 5%. Therefore, the authors conclude that the availability of a place in free childcare increases the likelihood of women participating in the labor market.
Regarding the number of hours worked, the program had no effect. Similarly, there was no effect on the disposable income of these families. However, an effect was found in the increase of family expenses, with a 13% increase in school expenses and a 19% increase in women's clothing. The effects are heterogeneous among the different groups of mothers, where the availability of free daycare places increases the probability of employment by 12,3 percentage points for mothers with young children.
Women who neither work nor have young children were also not impacted by this program; this may have occurred because they are older women with older children. Furthermore, they have lower levels of education, and in Chile these women are more likely to hold a sexist view of gender: they believe that women need to take care of the home and children and require a man to handle the financial side, according to Comunidad Mujer (2013).
Lessons in Public Policy
The study demonstrates that providing childcare for all ages is important if the goal is to increase female participation in the workforce. However, this is not a "magic solution," as additional policies are needed to include women without work experience.
References
MARTÍNEZ, Claudia; PERTICARÁ, Marcela. Childcare effects on maternal employment: Evidence from Chile. Journal of Development Economics, vol. 126, p. 127-137, 2017.
