Nonstandard Work and Child Care Choices of Married Mothers

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to examine the interplay between nonstandard employment and child care choice decisions of married mothers with young children. We draw on the 1992/93 Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate two related econometric models of child care choice that include the choice among center, sitter, relative and parental care. First, controlling for the potential endogeneity of the nonstandard work decision, we find that being a nonstandard worker significantly reduces the likelihood of using formal modes of child care such as center and sitter care. In our second model, where we jointly estimate the work status and child care choice decisions of mothers, we find that the standard versus nonstandard work decision is more responsive to the price of child care. Finally, we conclude the paper by discussing potential policy solutions to improve the child care options for mothers with young children working in nonstandard jobs.

Weekend Work and Leisure Time With Family and Friends: Who Misses Out?

“…Therefore, it is important to account for selection bias and the potential endogeneity between the work decision and other unobserved variables that may confound the relationship between weekend work and shared leisure time. To address this, we entered into the linear regressions Heckman's lambda results from probit models into which we entered covariates previously found to be associated with nonstandard work hours, including working weekends: age, gender, income, industry of employment, occupation, employment type, and usual weekly employment hours (Connelly & Kimmel, ; Kimmel & Powell, ). Industry was divided into eight sectors based on Australian Standard Classification of Occupation codes (see http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/5C244FD9D252CFC8CA25697E00184D35?opendocument).…”

The effects of nonstandard work schedules on workers' health: A mediating role of work‐to‐family conflict

“…Furthermore, when examining the role of work–family conflict in the relationship between nonstandard work schedules and health, it is important to note that nonstandard schedules are likely to be endogenous to other work characteristics (Kimmel & Powell, ; Täht & Mills, ). Nonstandard work schedules might be determined by similar work‐related factors or processes, and employees with certain job characteristics are more likely to work nonstandard schedules.…”

Single Mothers Working at Night: Standard Work, Child Care Subsidies, and Implications for Welfare Reform

“…The information on the link between the standard/nonstandard work and child care decisions of mothers is very limited and mostly descriptive in nature. Authors typically consider the impact of standard or nonstandard work on several outcomes such as modes of child care and the decision to use a child care subsidy (Burstein et al 2001;Georges et al 2001;Presser 1986;Presser 1988;Brayfield 1995;Casper and O'Connell 1998;Chaplin et al 1999;Kimmel and Powell 2001;Kimmel and Powell 2002). An important difference between this paper and previous research in this area is that the focus here is on the standard/nonstandard work decision while previous studies concentrated on the effect of standard or nonstandard work on some other outcome measure.…”

“…With the exception of the two studies by Kimmel and Powell, none of them addressed the endogeneity of standard/nonstandard work status. Kimmel and Powell (2001) examine the impact of standard work on the child care choices of single mothers and find that work patterns play an important role in mothers' decisions regarding the mode of child care.…”