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What Would They Do? Childcare under Parental Leave and Reduced Hours Options
Author(s) -
DRAGO ROBERT
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2011.00659.x
Subject(s) - parental leave , socioeconomic status , inequality , working hours , demographic economics , marital status , working time , psychology , economics , labour economics , demography , sociology , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , population , mathematics , engineering
Time diary data are used to simulate the effects of parental leave and reduced hours arrangements on childcare time among parents of infants. Estimates suggest that coupled fathers would apply approximately 70 percent of working time reductions under leave or reduced hours to childcare. Both coupled and single mothers translate working time reductions into childcare at higher rates. The analysis highlights inequalities across lines of gender, marital status, and socioeconomic status associated with existing policies and suggests policy innovations to both raise parental investments in childcare time and reduce levels of inequality.