Some New Evidence on the Relationship Between School Provision and Parental Labor Supply

This work provides new evidence on the strength of the relationship between school provision for children and parental labor supply. This link is explored using two distinct sources of variation in school provision, the four-day school week (4DW), and the annual summer break. Chapter 1 assesses the effect of the 4DW on parental labor supply and other measures of household welfare. Difference-in-differences results indicate that married mothers of all grade-school-aged children reduce employment and hours worked in an economic and statistically significant manner in response to the 4DW. Both married fathers and single mothers do not reduce employment and reduce their hours worked in only a marginally significant manner. Chapter 2 describes a meaningful decline in both employment and presence at work among married mothers of grade-school-aged children across the months of the summer break. Single mothers reduce their summer labor supply less and I observe some responsiveness among married fathers in presence at work over the summer. The role of this decline in summer labor supply on the gender gap in experience and earnings, as well as household time use and child cognitive and non-cognitive skills are also explored.