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. 2022 Feb;55(Suppl 1):248-281.
doi: 10.1111/caje.12566. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

Primary school reopenings and parental work

Pierre-Loup Beauregard  1 , Marie Connolly  2 , Catherine Haeck  2 , Tímea Laura Molnár  3
Affiliations

Primary school reopenings and parental work

Pierre-Loup Beauregard et al. Can J Econ. 2022 Feb.

Abstract
in English, French

In this paper, we exploit the geographical pattern of primary school reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada to estimate the impact of school reopenings on parental employment and work hours. We use a triple-difference approach, in which we first compare parents of primary-school children in regions where schools reopened to similar parents in regions where schools remained closed and add parents of older, secondary-school children as an additional control group. We estimate the impact of school reopenings separately for mothers and fathers, and for single parents and parents living in dual-parent households. We find a positive impact of school reopenings on employment and on actual hours worked. The effects tend to be stronger for single mothers, but are also present for mothers and fathers in dual-parent households in the spring of 2020. Overall, single mothers experienced an 18 percentage point increase in their employment at work rate following school reopenings. We also split our sample according to whether the job can be done from home, and find stronger impacts for those whose jobs cannot easily be done from home.

La réouverture des écoles primaires et le travail des parents. Dans cet article, nous exploitons la dispersion géographique des réouvertures d’écoles primaires durant la pandémie de COVID‐19 au Canada afin d'estimer l'impact des réouvertures d’écoles sur l'emploi des parents et leurs heures de travail. Nous utilisons une approche de triple différence, dans laquelle nous comparons tout d'abord les parents d'enfants à l’école primaire dans les régions où les écoles ont réouvert aux parents similaires dans les régions où les écoles sont restées fermées, puis nous ajoutons les parents d'enfants plus âgés, à l’école secondaire, comme groupe de contrôle additionnel. Nous estimons l'impact des réouvertures d’écoles séparément pour les mères et les pères, et pour les parents monoparentaux et ceux dans les ménages à deux parents. Nous trouvons un impact positif des réouvertures d’écoles sur l'emploi et les heures effectivement travaillées. Les effets tendent à être plus marqués pour les mères monoparentales, mais sont aussi présents pour les mères et les pères dans les ménages à deux parents au printemps 2020. En tout, les mères monoparentales ont connu une hausse de 18 points de pourcentage de leur taux d'emploi (au travail) suite aux réouvertures d’écoles. Nous séparons aussi notre échantillon selon que l'emploi puisse être fait de la maison et trouvons des impacts plus forts pour ceux dont l'emploi ne peut facilement être fait de la maison.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Fraction of parents with primary‐school children employed at work by region over time NOTES: Y‐axis shows the monthly fraction of parents employed (at work). All parents are included, not just those active on the labour market. Summer months are exceptionally included, and employment rate is seasonally adjusted over 12 months. Parents employed but absent from work are set to 0. The markers are hollow when schools are open and full when schools are closed (during the summer or because of the pandemic). Vertical bars denote 95% confidence intervals. Arrows and red dots indicate observations in May 2020 and January 2021. ROC = Rest of Canada. SOURCE: Authors’ calculations using the Labour Force Survey. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Fraction of parents with high‐school children employed at work by region over time NOTES: Y‐axis shows the monthly fraction of mothers employed (at work). All parents are included, not just those active on the labour market. Summer months are exceptionally included, and employment rate is seasonally adjusted over 12 months. Parents employed but absent from work are set to 0. The markers are hollow when schools are open and full when schools are closed (during the summer or because of the pandemic). Vertical bars denote 95% confidence intervals. Arrows and red dots indicate observations in May 2020 and January 2021. ROC = Rest of Canada. SOURCE: Authors’ calculations using the Labour Force Survey. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE A1
FIGURE A1
Fraction of parents with primary‐school children employed by region over time NOTES: Y‐axis shows the monthly fraction of parents employed (at work or absent from work). All parents are included, not just those active on the labour market. Summer months are exceptionally included, and employment rates are seasonally adjusted over 12 months. The markers are hollow when schools are open and full when schools are closed (during the summer or because of the pandemic). Vertical bars denote 95% confidence intervals. Arrows and red dots indicate observations in May 2020 and January 2021. ROC = Rest of Canada. SOURCE: Authors’ calculations using the Labour Force Survey. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE A2
FIGURE A2
Fraction of parents with high‐school children employed by region over time NOTES: Y‐axis shows the monthly fraction of mothers employed (at work or absent from work). All parents are included, not just those active on the labour market. Summer months are exceptionally included, and employment rates are seasonally adjusted over 12 months. The markers are hollow when schools are open and full when schools are closed (during the summer or because of the pandemic). Vertical bars denote 95% confidence intervals. Arrows and red dots indicate observations in May 2020 and January 2021. ROC = Rest of Canada. SOURCE: Authors’ calculations using the Labour Force Survey. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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