Hook Jennifer L, Paek Eunjeong
University of Southern California.
Am Sociol Rev. 2020 Jun;85(3):381-416. doi: 10.1177/0003122420922505. Epub 2020 Jun 1.
Although researchers generally agree that national family policies play a role in shaping mothers' employment, there is considerable debate about whether, how, and why policy effects vary across country contexts and within countries by mothers' educational attainment. We hypothesize that family policies interact with national levels of earnings inequality to differentially affect the employment outcomes of mothers by educational attainment. We develop hypotheses about the two most commonly studied family policies-early childhood education and care (ECEC) and paid parental leave. We test these hypotheses by establishing a novel linkage between the EU-Labour Force Survey and the Current Population Survey 1999-2016 (n = 23 countries, 299 country-years, 1.2 million mothers of young children), combined with an original collection of country-year indicators. Using multilevel models, we find that ECEC spending is associated with a greater likelihood of maternal employment, but the association is strongest for non-college educated mothers in high-inequality settings. The length of paid parental leave over six months is generally associated with a lower likelihood of maternal employment, but the association is most pronounced for mothers in high-inequality settings. We call for greater attention to the role of earnings inequality in shaping mothers' employment and conditioning policy effects.
尽管研究人员普遍认为国家家庭政策在塑造母亲就业方面发挥着作用，但对于政策效果在不同国家背景下以及在国内因母亲教育程度不同而如何、为何存在差异，仍存在大量争议。我们假设家庭政策与国家层面的收入不平等相互作用，从而根据教育程度对母亲的就业结果产生不同影响。我们针对两种最常被研究的家庭政策——幼儿教育与照料（ECEC）和带薪育儿假——提出假设。我们通过在欧盟劳动力调查与1999 - 2016年当前人口调查（涉及23个国家、299个国家年份、120万幼儿母亲）之间建立一种全新的联系，并结合国家年份指标的原始收集数据来检验这些假设。使用多层次模型，我们发现幼儿教育与照料支出与母亲就业的可能性增加相关，但这种关联在高不平等环境中对于未受过大学教育的母亲最为强烈。超过六个月的带薪育儿假时长通常与母亲就业的可能性降低相关，但这种关联在高不平等环境中的母亲中最为显著。我们呼吁更加关注收入不平等在塑造母亲就业以及调节政策效果方面的作用。
