Panel Paper:
Do Parental Nonstandard Work Schedules Explain Income-Based Gaps in Center-Based Early Care and Education Participation?
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Low-income children ages 0-5 years are less likely to be enrolled in center-based ECE compared with higher-income children (Laughlin, 2013). Several publicly-funded ECE programs subsidize the cost of center-based care to increase access to low-income families. Nevertheless, despite increases in recent decades in funding for these programs, income-based gaps in center-based ECE participation persist (Bassok, Finch, Lee, Reardon, & Waldfogel, 2016; Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2016). One reason may be that low-income parents are more likely than higher-income parents to work nonstandard schedules making it difficult to access center-based care, which is typically only available during standard weekday times. This study uses data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) household survey to examine the extent to which nonstandard work schedules explain income-based gaps in center-based ECE participation.
Our sample consists of 4293 children ages 0-5 years whose mothers were employed. Of these, 1917 were in low-income families (income less than 150% of the federal poverty line) and 2376 were in higher-income families. We use employment calendar data to measure mothers’ work schedules based on the percentage of total work hours she worked during different types of nonstandard shifts: evenings (6pm-11:59pm); nights (12am-5:59am); early mornings (6:00am-7:59am); and weekends. Center-based ECE participation is defined as the child is enrolled in any type of center-based ECE on a regular basis. To estimate the extent to which nonstandard schedules help explain the income-based gap in center-based ECE participation, we compare the magnitude of the gap before and after adjusting for nonstandard work schedules. Our first model uses logistic regression to predict the use of any center-based care from family income, child and family demographics (e.g., maternal education), community characteristics (e.g., urbanicity), and mothers’ total work hours. Our second model adds measures of nonstandard schedules to this model.
Approximately 26.6% of low-income children and 39.3% of higher income children participated in center-based ECE. Low-income mothers worked a greater percentage of their total work hours during nonstandard times (32.4%) versus higher-income mothers (19.2%), particularly in the evenings (10.5% versus 5.9% for higher-income) and weekends (14.8% versus 6.5% for higher-income). Preliminary analyses from logistic regression models show that working a greater percentage of total work hours during nonstandard times was associated with a lower likelihood of using center-based ECE. Adjusting for nonstandard work schedules reduced the income-based gap in center-based ECE by approximately 2 percentage points. Future analyses will examine differences by child age and test the robustness of these findings to different definitions of low-income and including measures of child care supply.
