Daycare Accessibility and Maternal Labor Market Outcomes: Do Quality Ratings Matter?

Deborah Cobb-Clark, Tung Dang () and Hayley Fisher ()
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Hayley Fisher: University of Sydney

No 18300, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Using administrative data on Australian daycare centers and a triple-difference design, we examine the impact of daycare availability and quality ratings on childcare utilization and mothers’ labor market outcomes. We document a substantial positive impact of daycare availability and higher quality ratings on formal care usage and mothers’ employment and earnings. The effect of quality ratings is particularly pronounced among high-income, more-educated, and first-time mothers, whose perceptions of local daycare quality are most responsive to changes in ratings. Our findings underscore the important roles of childcare quality, in addition to accessibility, in shaping families’ childcare choices and mothers’ employment decisions.

Keywords: earnings; employment; utilization; quality; childcare; administrative data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J22 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18300

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