Getting a job is only half the battle: Maternal job loss and child classroom behavior in low‐income families

Abstract

This study uses data from an experimental employment program and instrumental variables (IV) estimation to examine the effects of maternal job loss on child classroom behavior. Random assignment to the treatment at one of three program sites is an exogenous predictor of employment patterns. Cross-site variation in treatment-control differences is used to identify the effects of employment levels and transitions. Under certain assumptions, this method controls for unobserved correlates of job loss and child well-being, as well as measurement error and simultaneity. IV estimates suggest that maternal job loss sharply increases problem behavior but has neutral effects on positive social behavior. Current employment programs concentrate primarily on job entry, but these findings point to the importance of promoting job stability for workers and their children.

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

“…Our results are consistent with mounting evidence that parental job instability has adverse consequences on children’s behavior, academic achievement, and their subsequent adult employment outcomes, particularly in economically disadvantaged families (Hill et al 2010; Kalil and Ziol-Guest 2008; Oreopoulos et al 2008; Randolph et al 2004). The magnitude of the impacts of maternal job instability and fluctuating work hours is large.…”

“…The magnitude of the impacts of maternal job instability and fluctuating work hours is large. For comparison, the study most similar to ours is that by Hill et al (2010); their estimates imply that a single job loss increases the problem behavior of children by about half of a standard deviation; our estimates are sizable, although quite a bit smaller. This pattern of results was consistent across a variety of specifications, bolstering our confidence in the findings and providing suggestive evidence that our results are not driven primarily by unobserved heterogeneity.…”

“…As discussed in the Methods section, we pursue both strategies in this article. A related set of studies (see Duncan et al 2007; Gennetian and Miller 2002; Gennetian et al 2004; Hill et al 2010) exploited randomization to welfare programs that increased maternal employment, although these papers were less successful at understanding the effects of specific characteristics of maternal employment on child well-being.…”

“…A recent exception is Hill et al (2010), who combined experimental data and an instrumental variables approach to examine relations between maternal job loss and children’s classroom behavior. These authors exploited exogenous variation in maternal employment patterns produced by an experimental welfare-to-work program and found that maternal job loss sharply increases children’s problem behavior.…”

Job Displacement among Single Mothers: Effects on Children’s Outcomes in Young Adulthood

“…studies that have examined the relationship between employment trajectories, job instability, and children’s outcomes among single-parent families (Chase-Lansdale et al 2003; Hill et al 2011; Kalil, Duniform, and Danziger 2001; Kalil and Ziol-Guest 2005; Stevens and Schaller 2011; Yoshikawa, Weisner, and Lowe 2006). Yet while this work captures the complexity of employment trajectories among single mothers, it does not generally differentiate between voluntary and involuntary job separation, and is thus faced with significant issues of selection bias.…”