Childcare to Paychecks: The Impact of Early Head Start on Labor Market Outcomes

• In Event: Childcare, Work, and Wellbeing: Novel Evidence on Early Investments and Economic Mobility

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of the Early Head Start (EHS) program on maternal labor market outcomes and the childcare industry, leveraging novel variation from the program’s staggered rollout across U.S, as documented in Performance Information Reports (PIRs) obtained from Office of Head Start. Using the Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021) estimator and CPS-ASEC data from 1986–2018, I find that EHS significantly increases labor force participation, full-time work, and weeks worked for mothers with children under age three in treated metropolitan areas relative to not-yet-treated areas, with particularly large effects for single mothers. EHS exposure also reduces poverty among these mothers. Complementary analysis using QCEW data from 1990–2018 shows that EHS rollout leads to higher average wages, increased employment, and more childcare establishments at the county level. These findings suggest that EHS improves childcare access, boosts maternal employment, stimulates growth in the childcare sector, and contributes to gender equity and poverty reduction.

Author

• BILAL RAZA, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author