Child Care Services in the Labourforce Participation and Income Distribution of Working Mothers in the US

Abstract

Some evidence for the nexus of child care services, labour force participation, fertility, and family income inequality of working mothers in the US is presented in a cause‐effect framework. Based on sample data of 100 SMSAs in 1980, the study finds that the provision of child care services not only increases the labour force participation of working mothers, but it also results in a more equal family income distribution. Its policy implication is that the provision of child care services at an affordable cost and the restructuring of the occupational distribution of women from low paying to higher paying jobs, especially of female‐headed households, may significantly improve the economic welfare of the working poor and their children.