Balancing Work and Care: How Workplace Factors Can Mitigate the Gendered Impacts of Caregiving

Peyman Firouzi Naeim (), David W. Johnston () and Maryam Naghsh Nejad
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Peyman Firouzi Naeim: University of Technology, Sydney
David W. Johnston: Monash University

No 17850, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Parental caregiving responsibilities can disrupt paid work, contributing to persistent gender inequalities in employment and earnings. Using Australian employer-employee linked data and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how workplace environments shape the impacts of caregiving shocks, focusing on working parents of children diagnosed with cancer. Mothers experience large and persistent earnings losses, while fathers’ outcomes remain stable. Supportive firms and occupations, defined by high female representation in senior roles and lower work hour intensity, significantly reduce mothers’ earnings penalties. These findings highlight the important role of workplace conditions in reducing gendered economic costs of caregiving.

Keywords: workplace; gender gap; child health; caregiving; earnings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-hea and nep-lab
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