Teaching excellence for over 100 years Early Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Outcomes: Evidence from the UK and US Denise D. Hawkes University of Greenwich and Centre for Longitudinal Studies, IoE. Danielle A. Crosby University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Study Motivation Over the past two decades two important trends in the female labour market have been observed: an increase in the proportion of women in employment an increase in the participation of mothers following child birth Continued questions about the impact of maternal employment and leave policies on the well-being of young children

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Prior Literature Several US studies, using a variety of methods, find that mothers employment during infants first year is associated with poorer outcomes (e.g., Waldfogel, Han, & Brooks- Gunn, 2002; Ruhm, 2004) Somewhat similar findings emerge from studies in the UK, but effects have tended to be smaller than those noted for US samples (e.g., Gregg, Washbrook, Propper, & Burgess, 2005; Verropoulou & Joshi, 2007) To what extent are these effects linked to employment and parental leave policies?

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Selection Issues Challenges in identifying the true causal effects of mothers employment and determining the potential impact of policy Mothers who choose, are able, or are required to work may differ from those who do not in ways that matter for childrens development (e.g., education) Work decisions may also depend on child characteristics Selection processes may differ across SES groups Selection may also be influenced by policy contexts

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Policy Setting in UK Statuary Maternity Leave First 4 months paid and then 3 months unpaid Statuary Paternity Leave 2 weeks paid leave Sure Start government programme aimed at bring together, early education, childcare, health and family support through their childrens centres which are mainly located in disadvantaged areas in England

Teaching excellence for over 100 years UK cont. New Deal Lone parents Benefits Tax Credits Working Families Tax Credit Childrens Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit European Laws European Working Time Directive European Social Charter

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Policy Setting in US Parental Leave Policies 12 weeks of unpaid, but job-protected, leave Leave may be used for the birth of a child; adoption of a child; the illness of a spouse, child or parent; or, the employees own health condition. Employers may require that workers use any vacation or sick leave time they have as part of the 12 weeks. Employers may deny leave to highest paid 10% of its work force (key employees) if leave would create problems for the firm

Teaching excellence for over 100 years US cont. Head Start Head Start provides a full range of services (including nutritious meals and snacks, immunizations, and opportunities for parental involvement) to disadvantaged children. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Strongly employment orientated Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Care Tax Credit No guarantee of child care assistance to any groups

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Current Study: Research Aims Use contemporary, longitudinal birth cohort data for nationally representative samples in the US and UK to address the following questions: How do patterns of mothers employment post-birth differ across these two policy/institutional contexts? What do these data reveal about selection into employment for different groups? Considering selection issues, what are the effects of early employment on childrens cognitive outcomes?

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Dataset 1: MCS Millennium Cohort Study nationally-representative sample of UK births in 2000/2 (n = 18,500+) over-sampled those who live in areas of: high child poverty, high concentrations of ethnic minorities and the Celtic countries of the UK in-depth data collected from parent interviews, direct child assessments, observations of home and care settings, and care provider surveys data available from administrative sources and collected at 9 mos, 3 yrs, 4 ys, and 7 yrs

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Dataset 2: ECLS-B Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort nationally-representative sample of US births in 2001 (n = 10,600+) over-sampled twins, low birth weight infants, and several racial/ethnic groups of interest in-depth data collected from parent interviews, direct child assessments, observations of home and care settings, and care provider surveys data available from birth certificates and collected at 9 mos, 2 yrs, 4 ys, and 6 yrs

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Analysis Sample Focus on low- educated mothers policy-relevant group Sample size of women in the low-educated group: 7300 MCS mothers 5052 ECLS-B mothers UK Employed Post Birth Unemployed Post Birth Employed pre- birth 39.0%26.9% Unemployed pre-birth 1.9%32.2% US Employed Post Birth Unemployed Post Birth Employed pre- birth 41.5%21.1% Unemployed pre-birth 9.3%27.4%

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Key Variables Child Outcomes School Readiness Vocabulary Behaviour Early Employment Return in first three months Return between four and six months Return between seven and nine months Not employed in first nine months

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Other Independent Variables Developmental Controls Age in months and Sex Child Characteristics First born, Multiple birth, Low Birth Weight, Mother ever tried breastfeeding, Mother ever smoked during pregnancy, Mother received prenatal care in first trimester Mothers Characteristics Mothers age at birth, Education, Ethnicity, Employed at nine months, General health, Longstanding illness Family Characteristics Partnership status, Number of other children in the household, Grandparents in household, Household income, English is primary language spoken at home, Owner occupied home Area Charateristics

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Distribution of early employment MCSECLS-B Return in first three months 13.3% 11.6% Return between four and six months 20.2% 20.4% Return between seven and nine months 9.1% 18.9% Not employed in first nine months 57.4% 49.1%

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Results - Selection MCS Less employment with multiple birth, Pakistani/Bangladeshi, more children, More employment with first birth, age at birth 25-29, employment prior to birth, grandparent in household, owner occupier, London ECLS-B Less employment with multiple birth, more children, marriage and work limiting condition More employment with Asian Pacific Islander or Multiracial ethnicity, higher education, employment prior to birth, and living in the Midwest

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Results – School Readiness MCS In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found. ECLS-B In full model, work in first 9 months is associated with higher scores; model with categories to capture timing of entry into employment indicates positive effects for employment that begins after child is 3 months old.

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Results - Vocabulary MCS In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found. ECLS-B No relationship between early employment and language scores

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Results - Behaviour MCS In basic model, early employment has a positive effect on this outcome, later is better. In full model, no early employment effect found to be negative and significant at 10%. ECLS-B Employment begun between 3 and 6 months is associated with slightly less problem behaviour

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Summary MCS Cognitive outcomes (school readiness and vocabulary) unaffected by mothers employment in the early months once mothers characteristics included. Behavioural outcomes worse for those with mothers employed early ECLS-B School readiness better for those with working mothers Vocabulary unaffected by mothers employment in early months Behavioural outcomes worse for those with mothers employed early

Teaching excellence for over 100 years Next Steps Potential sub-group analysis: low educated mothers who were employed one year before the birth of the cohort member low educated mothers for whom the cohort member is their first child Further paper using SEM to understand more fully the processes and to fully integrate the impact of the selection into employment process