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Impacts of Family-Friendly Workplace Policies

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Atlanta Marriott Marquis, A707
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Claudia Olivetti, Boston College

When Dad Stays Home: Paternity Leave and Maternal Health

Maya Rossin-Slater
,
Stanford University
Petra Persson
,
Stanford University

Abstract

A significant share of new mothers experience mental and physical health issues after childbirth, yet the causal drivers of maternal postpartum health are poorly understood. While policy discussions often center on the role of the healthcare system, this paper analyzes whether the presence of the child's father in the home post-childbirth affects maternal health. We leverage Swedish linked administrative population-level data together with quasi-experimental variation from the introduction of two "Daddy Month" reforms, which each earmarked one month of parental leave to fathers. We find that the first reform, which had a large extensive margin impact on the share of fathers taking any leave, increased the likelihood of maternal hospitalization in the year post-childbirth, driven by conditions related to mental health and external causes. The second reform, in contrast, predominantly extended paternity leave duration on the intensive margin, and led to a decline in the likelihood of maternal hospitalization in the postpartum year, an analogous reduction in non-primary-care outpatient visits, and lower consumption of anti-depressants among mothers with low education. Our findings suggest that the impacts of increased paternal time at home on maternal health may depend on the quality of the parental relationship; paternity leave can either buffer against the fatigue and stress associated with having an infant, or exacerbate conflict between new parents.

Family Leave Law and the Demand for Female Labor: Evidence from a Trade Shock

Fariha Kamal
,
U.S. Census Bureau
Cristina Tello-Trillo
,
U.S. Census Bureau
Asha Sundaram
,
University of Auckland

Abstract

This paper estimates a labor demand effect of mandated, job-protected family leave on female workers. We use confidential microdata of matched employers and employees for the universe of U.S. non-farm, private sector firms and separately identify firms required to provide leave under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and firms that are exempt (non-FMLA). We study the difference in the demand for female workers between FMLA and non-FMLA firms, following a trade-induced, exogenous labor demand shock. We find that the demand for female relative to male workers is lower at FMLA firms compared to non-FMLA firms in response to the trade shock. This difference is most pronounced for less than college-educated female workers and women in their childbearing ages. The difference is mitigated at firms with female managers.

Maternity Leave Policies: Evidence from Rhode Island

Eric Chyn
,
University of Virginia
Justine Hastings
,
Brown University

Abstract

This paper measures the impact of government-sponsored paid maternity leave on outcomes of mothers and their children. We use comprehensive administrative data from Rhode Island’s Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) program, which replaces sixty percent of earnings for qualified women who take leave due to pregnancy or postpartum recovery. We conduct three analyses. We use program qualification rules and a regression discontinuity (RD) approach to measure impacts of TDI among low-earning mothers. We do not find significant impacts on mothers’ labor supply or economic self-sufficiency in the quarters surrounding or the years after birth. Next, we examine if there are impacts of coupling TDI with job protection provided by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Using an additional RD design, we do not find significant impacts of job protection eligibility for TDI claimants. Finally, we study impacts of TDI for women near and away from the qualification threshold using machine learning (ML) to select controls from a large number of characteristics from administrative records. We find positive and significant impacts of TDI, but interpret these estimates cautiously since a comparison of ML and RD estimates suggests positive selection bias. We do not find significant impacts on children’s outcomes in any analysis.

The Long-Term Effects of California’s 2004 Paid Family Leave Act on Women’s Labor-Market Outcomes: Evidence from United States Tax Data

Martha Bailey
,
University of Michigan
Tanya Byker
,
Middlebury College
Elena Patel
,
U.S. Treasury Department

Abstract

Paid leave policies have been championed as a means to level the playing field for working women and narrow the gender gap in wages. Using large-scale Internal Revenue Services (IRS) tax data, this paper provides novel evidence on the short- and long-term effects of California’s 2004 Paid Family Leave Act on women’s labor-force outcomes over the policy’s first decade. Our research design compares the outcomes of California women who first gave birth just after the policy became effective on July 1, 2004, to women who gave birth three months before it was implemented (whose claims to paid leave would not have been protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act). Our findings suggest that the employment effects of California’s 2004 Paid Leave Act for new mothers were no greater than 0.7 percent, and its wage effects were no greater than 0.6 percent. These aggregate effects mask sharp decreases in employment and wages for some subgroups of new mothers.
Discussant(s)
Betsey Stevenson
,
University of Michigan
Justin Wolfers
,
University of Michigan
Kasey Buckles
,
University of Notre Dame
Melissa Kearney
,
University of Maryland
JEL Classifications
  • J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor
  • K2 - Regulation and Business Law