The differential impact of universal child benefits on the labor supply of married and single mothers

Kourtney Koebel

LCERPA Working Papers from Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis

Abstract: Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we find the Canadian Universal Child Care Benefit (a demogrant paid to families with children under age 6 that was introduced in July 2006) has significant negative effects on the labor supply of legally married mothers but significant positive effects on the labor supply of single mothers. The positive effect for single mothers is concentrated among divorced mothers, with results suggesting divorced mothers’ likelihood of participating in the labor force rises by 2.8 percentage points when receiving the benefit. This contrasts with a reduction in the likelihood of legally married mothers participating in the labor force by 1.4 percentage points. Further, the effects for single moms primarily represent entry to employment and the labor force (extensive margin) and not an increase in hours among those who would have been working without the benefits. The estimated effects for common-law married mothers and single never-married mothers are not statistically significant.

Keywords: Labour supply; public policy; child benefits; demogrant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J18 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05-01, Revised 2015-05-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
Note: LCERPA Working Paper No. 2015-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Differential Impact of Universal Child Benefits on the Labour Supply of Married and Single Mothers (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wlu:lcerpa:0094

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