Family Policies and the Wage Penalty: A Cross-National and Multilevel Approach

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

SES-0751505 Michelle Budig Joya Misra University of Massachusetts-Amherst The ability of families to successfully combine paid work and caring work affects the wellbeing of adults and children in America. While many of the current solutions in the U.S. for creating work and family balance are left to individuals, social scientists and activists often argue that public policy could assist families achieve this balance. Work-family policies include paid or unpaid parental and family leave, subsidized or state-provided childcare, school scheduling, and flexible work-time policies. How effective are these policies in equalizing the women's economic position? The research examines the effects of social policy on the wage penalty for motherhood, in particular, how specific policies affect the ability of mothers to combine work and family. Research aims are: to understand why mothers incur wage penalties for children in some countries, how penalties vary in size, and whether specific social policies alter these penalties. The research is unique and novel in its attempt to directly measure, using hierarchical linear modeling, the effects of policies on the motherhood wage penalty. The variation in both policies and cross-national motherhood wage penalties provides an excellent opportunity to learn how policies reduce or increase different kinds of inequality. The investigators will analyze a newly created and original NSF-funded Social Policy Database that measures family policies across twenty-two nations. They will link this database with the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), which provide the best cross-national data for comparing income across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Methodologically, this approach shows a significant innovation over previous discussions of family policy effects. Rather than simply showing associations between policy constellations and family resources, the PIs will use hierarchical linear modeling to directly test each policy's effects on outcomes, while running a variety of sensitivity analyses to ensure that results are robust. Included in these are random effects models and fixed-effects models with contextual variable interactions. Rather than simply using one index to combine family policy measures, the study also looks at particular work-family policies separately. The ability of families to successfully combine paid work and caring work affects the wellbeing of adults and children in America, as well as other countries. Work-family policies, including paid or unpaid parental leave, subsidized or state-provided childcare, school scheduling, and flexible work-time policies, are thought to benefit families' wellbeing, but their effects are largely unmeasured. By examining the impact of a variety of work-family policies across twenty-two nations, the research has broader implications in that it helps us to better understand how policies impact women's employment participation and earnings, which are key factors behind family wellbeing and the increasing inequality among family types.