The Impact of Nonstandard Work on Caregiving

Jean Kimmel, Western Michigan University
Rachel Connelly, Bowdoin College

Our paper examines how mothers’ employment choices (full-time vs part-time) and work schedules (standard vs shiftwork) affect mothers’ caregiving, including total time spent with children and the activities engaged in with children. Working full time versus part time or standard versus shiftwork is itself a choice and so we model the simultaneity of the time spent with children and employment status. Full time/part time work status and standard/nonstandard work status are analyzed in separate estimations using data from the newly released American Time Use Survey (ATUS). This analysis permits the examination of questions such as whether there is a difference in mothers’ time spent on human capital investment for her children among full time, part time and nonworking mothers; what role education plays in the way mothers spend time with children, controlling for employment choices; and does shiftwork permit more direct child contact or affect the quality of that contact?