Work, Care Work, and Policy Design: Reimagining Labor Supports Across Contexts

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Across global contexts, caregivers—who are predominantly but not exclusively women—face persistent structural constraints in balancing paid labor and caregiving responsibilities. This panel explores how collaborative policy design and research can help address those constraints, offering new insights into how caregiving labor is distributed, valued, and supported through public policy. Drawing on diverse partnerships—from nonprofit-academic collaborations in the U.S. to government data linkages in Spain and community-grounded survey research in India—these four papers analyze the role of mandates, subsidies, mobility, and guaranteed income in shaping women’s work and care responsibilities.

The panel opens with Inefficiency Revealed, which revisits the effects of mandated maternity benefits in the United States. Drawing on a reanalysis of canonical labor economics research, the author finds that group-specific mandates yield unequal outcomes: employment declines among low-income women while higher-income women shift toward part-time work. This paper provides a foundation for the panel’s focus on how policies, even when well-intended, can generate hidden inequities—especially in the absence of attention to structural vulnerability.

The second paper, Nursery School Subsidies for Particularly Young Children, examines Spain’s “Cheque Guardería” program using government-linked administrative records and a sharp eligibility cutoff. The study finds that subsidies for children under age three significantly improve mothers’ employment outcomes, especially among lower-income families. This research underscores the value of early childhood investments and demonstrates how policy effectiveness can be strengthened by leveraging administrative data and evaluating distributional impacts.

The third paper, Women’s Work-Related Freedom of Movement and Paid Work in Three Indian States, draws on an original survey conducted in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The study finds that women in Bihar and Maharashtra who have greater work-related freedom of movement are significantly more likely to engage in paid work. By introducing a novel measure of work-related freedom of movement, this research highlights how gendered constraints on movement limit women's access to paid work—even in the absence of formal barriers. The research reflects the importance of grounded, context-specific evidence in shaping inclusive economic policy.

The final paper, “Paid Work and Unpaid Caregiving under Guaranteed Income,” revisits labor market concerns about guaranteed income using new data from a pilot in Georgia. While historical experiments like the 1970s Negative Income Tax studies fueled backlash due to modest declines in women’s paid labor—often tied to caregiving—this study finds a more complex picture. Treatment group participants did not significantly reduce paid work or increase caregiving; instead, early exploratory evidence suggests they may reallocate time toward education and training. These findings reflect evolving economic agency among low-income Black women and point to the need for new metrics that capture how guaranteed income supports long-term capacity building, not just immediate employment.

Together, these papers illustrate how research collaborations—whether between universities and governments, nonprofits and communities, or across national borders—can generate nuanced, equity-focused insights. Each study models how inclusive partnerships can surface overlooked dynamics in labor and care, inform policy design, and contribute to more resilient and just policy solutions, in direct alignment with APPAM’s 2025 conference theme.

Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Chair

• Leah Hamilton, Appalachian State University

Discussants

• Jacob Bastian, Rutgers University - New Brunswick

• Martha Susana Jaimes, Institute for Women's Policy Research

Organizer

• Leah Hamilton, Appalachian State University

Individual Presentations

• Nursery school subsidies for particularly young children: Impacts on maternal labor market and fertility outcomes - Presenting Author: Jennifer Graves, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

• Women’s work-related freedom of movement and paid work in three Indian states - Presenting Author: Vedavati Patwardhan, Center on Gender Equity and Health, UC San Diego

• Paid Work and Unpaid Caregiving under Guaranteed Income: Evidence from Georgia’s Pilot - Presenting Author: Soobin Kim, University of Georgia

• Working from Home: Voices of the Family Child Care Workforce in New Jersey - Presenting Author: Liana Lin, Rutgers University - New Brunswick