The cost of fair pay: How child care work wages affect formal child care hours, informal child care hours, and employment hours
Abstract
The debate on the effects of child care policies on household and individual behavior is substantial but lacks a discussion of the unintended consequences of rising wages in the child care work sector. To address this gap in the debate, the relation between rising pay and formal child care hours, informal child care hours, and employment hours is analyzed empirically with a case study on child care in Germany between 2012 and 2019. Among other findings, the evidence demonstrates that the consumption of formal child care hours of middle- and high-income households in eastern Germany correlates negatively with child care work wages, indicating price elasticity.
Keywords
Distribution; Inequality; Family; Education; Labor and employment
Cite as
Löffler, V. (2024). The cost of fair pay: How child care work wages affect formal child care hours, informal child care hours, and employment hours. In German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) (Ed.), SOEPpapers: Vol. 1205.Details
Publication type
Working paper
Peer reviewed
No
Publication status
Published
Year
2024
Journal
SOEPpapers on multidisciplinary panel data research at DIW Berlin
Volume
12005
Editor
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)
Start page
1
End page
81
Number of pages
81
Volume
1205
Title of series
SOEPpapers
Language
English
ISSN
1864-6689
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