The Relationship between Working from Home and the Time Parents Spend on Child Care

Abstract

A substantial amount of literature discusses the adverse effects of maternal employment on children’s obesity, cognitive development, and other outcomes. This study uses data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to investigate a potential solution: working from home. Parents who work from home contribute significantly more time to child-care activities than parents working outside the home. At-home workers spend 176.4 and 132 more minutes per day on total child-care time, respectively, than those who commute to work. Working from home offsets the reduction in total primary-child-care time associated with maternal and paternal employment by 62.6 and 54.5 percent, respectively. Secondary child care contributes more than 80 percent of the increase of total child-care time. Using the amount of selection on the observables as a guide to the amount of selection on the unobservables, I find robust associations between working from home and the time parents spend on physical care; secondary child care; and total primary, secondary, and total child-care time.