More Care, More Workers? Gauging the Impact of Child Care Access on Labor Force Participation

John Reaves, Hope O. Akaeze, Holli A. Schlukebir, Steven R. Miller, Henry O. Akaeze and Jamie Heng-Chieh Wu ()
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John Reaves: Department of Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Hope O. Akaeze: Community Evaluation Programs, University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Holli A. Schlukebir: Community Evaluation Programs, University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Steven R. Miller: Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Henry O. Akaeze: Department of Business and Economics, Wayne State College, Wayne, NE 68787, USA
Jamie Heng-Chieh Wu: Community Evaluation Programs, University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: This study investigates the critical link between child care accessibility and local labor force participation, addressing a gap in current research that often lacks local spatial granularity. While over half of the U.S. population resides in child care deserts, disproportionately affecting rural, low-income, and minority communities, the economic implications for local labor markets remain underexplored. Leveraging Michigan child care license data and Census tract-level demographic and employment characteristics, this research employs a spatial econometric approach to estimate the impact of geographic distance to child care facilities on labor supply using descriptive data. Our findings consistently demonstrate that increased distance to child care is significantly associated with reduced labor force participation. While female labor force participation is lower in areas with constrained access to child care, we also found that households with two parents are also less likely to have full labor force participation when access to child care is constrained. The cost-effective framework used here can be replicated to identify specific communities most impacted by child care-related employment disruptions. The analytical findings can be instrumental in targeting and prioritizing child care policy interventions.

Keywords: child care; labor force participation; spatial analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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