Preschool as Child Care: Head Start Duration Expansions and Maternal Employment

• In Event: The Economic Effects of Early Childhood Education on Parents and Children

Abstract

Early childhood care and education settings serve two purposes simultaneously: supporting children’s development and early learning, and facilitating parents’ gainful activities. We examine how access to full-day Head Start programs affects maternal labor supply, leveraging a recent funding eligibility rule that expanded the duration of Head Start programs. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of supplemental funds to extend the duration of Head Start programming. Head Start grantees serving fewer than 40 percent of their center-based slots for a full school day and full school year were eligible to apply.Our analysis leverages this policy threshold and combines data on Head Start enrollment and center locations with parents’ employment data from the annual American Community Survey from 2008 to 2020. We first demonstrate that the 2016 funding availability significantly increased full-time Head Start enrollment. Next, using variation in access to full-day Head Start across place and time, we find that single mothers of preschool-aged children increase their labor force participation and work more hours per week. Our findings provide new evidence on the broader effects of early childhood investments on mothers’ economic opportunities.

Author

• Esra Kose, University of California, Merced
  Presenting Author