Does the Right to Work Part-Time Affect Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes?

Konferenzbeitrag

This paper studies how the statutory right to work part-time affects mothers' post-birth labor market outcomes and higher-order fertility. I use a differences-in-differences design to investigate the introduction of a German law in 2001 that grants the right to work part-time to employees working in firms with more than 15 employees. I find that the reform does not increase the probability to return to work after childbirth significantly. However, mothers who gain the right to work part-time are more likely to work part-time in the short-run after childbirth, indicating that the law is effective in granting access to part-time employment to those mothers who want it. While the probability to return to work after childbirth is unaffected, the law has a positive effect on maternal employment and labor income in the long-run. The results suggest that the increase in the employment rate is due to a lower probability to drop out of the labor market after the temporary return and a lower probability to give birth to an additional child.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2020: Gender Economics

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Demographic Economics: Public Policy ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Labor Standards: Workers' Rights
• Subject: Female Employment ; Part-Time Work ; Fertility ; Family and Work Obligations

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
• (where): Kiel, Hamburg
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/224556
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET