Working Moms: A Study of the Factors that Affect the Hours of Employment per Week of Married Mothers whose Youngest Child is Less Than Six

Abstract

Data from 1983-1986 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) are drawn upon to explore how type of childcare utilized affects the extent of mother's employment. Fixed-effects analysis suggests using relative care decreases mother's hours of employment per week. Once age of the youngest child is introduced, nuclear care decreases mother's hours of employment per week. Surprisingly, mothers of infants and toddlers are predicted to work slightly more hours per week than mothers of preschoolers. Husband's hours of employment per week interacts with non-family care to decrease mother's hours of employment. The effect of the number of children in the household on mother's hours of employment is found to depend on the childcare utilized. Interestingly, mother's years of education and husband's annual income do not have statistically significant effects on mother's hours of employment in this analysis. Some possible reasons and implications of these findings are discussed.