Employment Patterns of Less-Skilled Workers: Links to Children’s Behavior and Academic Progress

Abstract

Using data from five waves of the Women’s Employment Survey (WES; 1997–2003), we examine the links between low-income mothers’ employment patterns and the emotional behavior and academic progress of their children. We find robust and substantively important linkages between several different dimensions of mothers’ employment experiences and child outcomes. The pattern of results is similar across empirical approaches—including ordinary least squares and child fixed-effect models, with and without an extensive set of controls. Children exhibit fewer behavior problems when mothers work and experience job stability (relative to children whose mothers do not work). In contrast, maternal work accompanied by job instability is associated with significantly higher child behavior problems (relative to employment in a stable job). Children whose mothers work full-time and/or have fluctuating work schedules also exhibit significantly higher levels of behavior problems. However, full-time work has negative consequences for children only when it is in jobs that do not require cognitive skills. Such negative consequences are completely offset when this work experience is in jobs that require the cognitive skills that lead to higher wage growth prospects. Finally, fluctuating work schedules and full-time work in non-cognitively demanding jobs are each strongly associated with the probability that the child will repeat a grade or be placed in special education.

The Relation Between Maternal Work Hours and the Cognitive Development of Young School-Aged Children

“…Recently, Berger (2012) showed that, in Germany, full-time working mothers are more satisfied with their lives than mothers who are not working due to family reasons and mothers in small part-time jobs (less than 20 h per week). However, Johnson et al (2012) found that maternal work has differentiated effects on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, depending on the extent of job stability and the job's cognitive skills requirements. These studies illustrate the need for further research on the driving mechanisms behind the positive relation between maternal employment and the cognitive development of young school-aged children.…”

Job loss and the mental health of spouses and adolescent children

“…There is, in fact, a surprisingly small body of evidence directly linking parental unemployment to indicators of the psychological well-being of children, with findings mostly suggesting relationships are either weak, often disappearing once other life events are controlled for or statistically insignificant (e.g., McMunn et al 2001;Sund et al 2003;Östberg et al 2006;Piko and Fitzpatrick 2007;Fröjd et al 2009). Also, with the notable exceptions of Johnson et al (2012) and Schaller and Zerpa (2015), this evidence is based on crosssectional data and consequently tells us very little about causality.…”

The Far-Reaching Impact of Job Loss and Unemployment

“…A literature is also emerging which suggests deleterious effects of parental displacement on children, including lower self-esteem and higher likelihood of grade repetition, dropout, and suspension or expulsion from school (Johnson, Kalil, and Dunifon 2012; Kalil and Ziol-Guest 2005, 2008; Stevens and Schaller 2010), educational attainment (Kalil and Wightman 2011), and lower income of children in adulthood (Page, Stevens, and Lindo 2009). These studies largely emphasize the deleterious effects of fathers’ loss of financial standing in the family among married couple households.…”