Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper uses county-level data from 2005 – 2015 for the state of Texas to estimate the correlations between child maltreatment and male and female labor market outcomes. The results show increases in the overall unemployment rate are associated with increases in the rate of child maltreatment. When male and female labor market outcomes are treated separately, the findings show that while higher male unemployment rates are associated with higher rates of child maltreatment, higher female unemployment rates are associated with lower rates of child maltreatment. These relationships hold across different age groups, and the correlations are strongest during prime working age.