Childcare and Mothers’ Labor Market Outcomes in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries

Daniel Zefanya Halim, Elizaveta Perova and Sarah Reynolds

No 9828, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Improving women’s labor force participation and the quality of their employment can boost economic growth and support poverty and inequality reduction; thus, it is highly pertinent for the development agenda. However, most systematic reviews on female labor market outcomes and childcare, which can arguably improve these outcomes, are focused on developed countries. This paper reviews 22 studies that plausibly identify the causal impact of institutional childcare on maternal labor market outcomes in lower- and-middle-income countries. All but one study finds positive impacts on the extensive or intensive margin of maternal labor market outcomes, which aligns with findings for developed countries. The paper further analyzes aspects of childcare design, including hours, ages of children, and coordination with other childcare services that may increase the impacts on maternal labor market outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of directions for future research.

Keywords: Rural Labor Markets; Educational Sciences; Labor Markets; Gender and Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/45097163 ... Income-Countries.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9828

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().