Childcare for Informal-Sector Workers: Delivery Models, Access, and Welfare

Jacklyn Makaaru Arinaitwe, George Bogere, Anna Fiore, Sylvan Herskowitz, Megan Lang, Francis Mwesigye and Tracy Nalumansi

No 12969, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Childcare burdens limit productivity among women in the informal sector, but we know little about the optimal design of childcare support. We randomize 883 women market vendors in Kampala, Uganda to receive free workplace- or community-based childcare. Free childcare redistributes caregiving away from household members, raises women’s hourly earnings, and improves child development and women’s well-being. Community centers achieve higher utilization and larger gains in development and well-being, while workplace centers generate larger economic impacts. Both models have a high marginal value of public funds. Community centers currently dominate, but workplace-based centers could prove superior if operated at scale.

Keywords: labor; childcare; gender; time use; early child development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J22 O12 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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