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Heterogeneous Effects of School Reopenings on the Labor Supply of Parents of Young School-Age Children

Institute Working Paper 75 | Revised February 28, 2025

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Authors

Misty Heggeness University of Kansas
Ana Sofía León Universidad Diego Portales
Heterogeneous Effects of School Reopenings on the Labor Supply of Parents of Young School-Age Children

Abstract

Like most countries, the Chilean government closed schools as part of its pandemic public health mandates. In this paper, we study the impact of central planner variation in school reopenings on parental labor supply focusing on the initial three months after schools partially reopened. Mothers’ labor force participation (LFP) decreased by 5.1 percentage points (ppts) one month after reopening relative to mothers near closed schools and decreased by 9.5 ppts among householder mothers. Two or three months later, mothers who remained in the labor force saw a minimal increase in their ability to actively work and, more specifically, to work in informal jobs. The LFP of fathers increased anywhere from 2.0 to 2.9 ppts and by as much as 10.7 ppts for non-householder fathers. Unplanned care interruptions during school reopening had differential effects on parental labor supply. Our findings support a theory that parental labor supply is sensitive to childcare transitions in terms of both gender and the householder status of the parent.




This paper previously circulated with the title "Parenthood and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Chile."