Abstract

‍This is the final report in a series of five reports that together use the Growing Up in NewZealand (GUiNZ) longitudinal survey data to explore how the inability to access affordablechildcare affects the long run labour market outcomes of mothers. This report investigates therelationship between issues with access to childcare in the child’s first two years and mothers’paid work when the child is nearly school-aged.Thirteen percent of GUiNZ mothers report at either 9 months or 2 years that their child is not inchildcare because of access issues; this rises to 16% of Māori mothers and 21% of Pasifikamothers. Mothers with a history of access issues have weaker labour market outcomes at 54months than do mothers who always used childcare even after we control for a wide range ofpersonal and antenatal work characteristics. Specifically, they are less likely to want to work, lesslikely to have a job, less likely to have a high-skill job, and less likely to work full time. However,mothers who experienced access issues have similar work outcomes to mothers who did not usechildcare for other reasons. These results are consistent with a weak work history, no matter itscause, making it more difficult for a mother to get a good job. However, we can’t rule outunobservable differences between mothers with different childcare histories driving some of theresults.When we make varying assumptions about how childcare use would change if childcare accessissues were eliminated, we estimate removing access issues in children’s first two years couldincrease the proportion of mothers with jobs at 54 months by between 0 and 2 percentagepoints overall, between 0 and 3 percentage points for Māori mothers, and between 0 and 4.5percentage points for Pasifika mothers.

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Suggested citation
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Sin, I. (2022). How do childcare access issues affect mothers’ work in the long term?  Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. https://www.motu.nz/assets/Uploads/Childcare-access-issues-and-long-term-work-FINAL.pdf

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