Childcare Access and the Allocation of Female Human Capital Across Firms

Elena Simintzi, Sheng-Jun Xu and Ting Xu

No 33835, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We study how relaxing childcare-related constraints affects the allocation of female human capital across firms. Using linked family-employee-employer tax filing data and cohort-level variation in exposure to Quebec’s universal childcare reform, we show that earlier access to childcare induces new mothers to reallocate toward firms where they were previously underrepresented—firms with more demanding hours, higher risk, and higher pay. The effect is mainly driven by the relaxation of childcare-related time constraints as opposed to financial constraints. This reallocation reduces gender segmentation across firms and improves the performance of the firms mothers join. Our results suggest that expanding childcare access improves worker-firm matching and firms’ access to productive talent.

JEL-codes: G30 G38 J13 J16 J2 J6 M5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-dem and nep-sbm
Note: CF CH LS PE PR
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