Date of Award
8-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Economics
Committee Member
Curtis Simon, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Devon Gorry
Committee Member
Babur De Los Santos
Abstract
This study reproduces and extends the work of Tanya Byker (2016). Her findings on the positive effect of paid family leave on labor-force participation and employment as well as the negative effect on unemployment are reproduced and extended across a further range of time periods. The evidence presented in this paper supports her hypothesis that paid family leave indeed has the potential to increase the labor-force participation of women in the months surrounding childbirth, especially for women without college degrees. Testing robustness of estimates to weighting yields similar patterns of labor-market outcomes for both weighted and unweighted regressions.
Extension of Byker's regressions to mothers of different occupational groups reveals differential effects of paid leave policy. While analysis women in management occupations as well as women in office and administrative support roles yields estimates mirroring those of the full sample, analysis of women in education, training, and library occupations reveals contrary effects of paid family leave policy. These results suggest that occupation is an important factor in determining the effect of paid family leave policy on labor-market outcomes.
Recommended Citation
Goldsmith, Alexander William, "Effect of Paid Family Leave Policy on Labor Market Outcomes of Mothers" (2019). All Theses. 3175.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3175