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Taking Pressure Off Families: Child‐Care Subsidies Lessen Mothers’ Work‐Hour Problems
Author(s) -
Press Julie E.,
Fagan Jay,
Laughlin Lynda
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00240.x
Subject(s) - subsidy , child care , work (physics) , overtime , payment , labour economics , cash , wage , demographic economics , economics , care work , business , nursing , medicine , finance , mechanical engineering , engineering , market economy
We use the Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work to model the effect of child‐care subsidies and other ecological demands and resources on the work hour, shift, and overtime problems of 191 low‐income urban mothers. Comparing subsidy applicants who do and do not receive cash payments for child care, we find that mothers who receive subsidies are 21% less likely to experience at least one work hour–related problem on the job. Our results suggest that child‐care subsidies do more than allow women to enter the labor force. Subsidies help make it easier for mothers in low‐wage labor both to comply with employer demands for additional work hours and to earn the needed wages that accompany them.