Employment protection and parental child care

Arbeitspapier

I examine if employment protection affects parental childcare. I find that a softer employment protection has a substantial effect on how parents use and divide paid childcare between them. The identification relies on a reform that made it easier for employers in Sweden to dismiss workers in small firms. I estimate that a softer employment protection reduces the total days of parental childcare in targeted firms, measured as total days of parental leave or temporary parental leave. Both a sorting effect and a behavioral effect can explain the reduced childcare. I also find evidence of a redistribution effect of paid parental childcare within households if only one partner was affected by the reform. I interpret the redistribution effect as a way of evading an external cost on the child.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2013:2

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics
• Subject: employment protection ; parental childcare ; within family distribution ; Kündigungsschutz ; Kinderbetreuung ; Familienökonomik ; Wirkungsanalyse ; KMU ; Schweden

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Olsson, Martin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)
• (where): Uppsala
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/82248
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET