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Too Family Friendly? The Consequences of Parent Part-Time Working Rights

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  • Fernández-Kranz, Daniel

    (IE Business School, Madrid)

  • Rodríguez-Planas, Núria

    (Queens College, CUNY)

Abstract

We use a difference-in-differences model with individual fixed effects to evaluate a 1999 Spanish law granting employment protection to workers with children younger than 6 who had asked for a shorter workweek due to family responsibilities. Our analysis shows that well- intended policies can potentially backfire and aggravate labor market inequalities between men and women, since there is a very gendered take-up, with only women typically requesting part-time work. After the law was enacted, employers were 49% less likely to hire women of childbearing age, 40% more likely to separate from them, and 37% less likely to promote them to permanent contracts, increasing female non-employment by 4% to 8% relative to men of similar age. The results are similar using older women unaffected by the law as a comparison group. Moreover, the law penalized all women of childbearing age, even those who did not have children. These effects were largest in low-skill jobs, at firms with less than 10 employees, and in industries with few part-time workers. These findings are robust to several sensitivity analyses and placebo tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2021. "Too Family Friendly? The Consequences of Parent Part-Time Working Rights," IZA Discussion Papers 14548, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14548
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    Cited by:

    1. Huebener, Mathias & Jessen, Jonas & Kühnle, Daniel & Oberfichtner, Michael, 2021. "A Firm-Side Perspective on Parental Leave," IZA Discussion Papers 14478, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Paule-Paludkiewicz, Hannah, 2024. "Does the right to work part-time affect mothers' labor market outcomes?," Discussion Papers 12/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    3. Barigozzi, Francesca & Parasnis, Jaai & Tani, Massimiliano, 2022. "Gender, Motivation, and Self-Selection into Teaching," IZA Discussion Papers 15532, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Francesca Carta & Alessandra Casarico & Marta De Philippis & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2024. "Mom's out: employment after childbirth and firm-level responses," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1458, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Claudia Hupkau & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela, 2022. "Work and children in Spain: challenges and opportunities for equality between men and women," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 243-268, May.
    6. Simon Rabaté & Externe auteur: Sara Rellstab, 2021. "The Child Penalty in the Netherlands and its Determinants," CPB Discussion Paper 424, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    compositional bias; fixed-term and permanent contract employment; female employment transitions and wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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