7.2.2 Evaluating the Impact of Social Policy for Families with Children on Women's Labor Supply and their Human Capital
Andrei Sushentsov
Project Leader
Project period
2020-2022
Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital
The impact of social policy for families with children on the labor supply of women and their human capital are at the heart of the world discussion on the contribution of human potential to sustainable development. Modern scientific papers have established that long maternity leave can lead to the loss of women's professional skills, deterioration of their career prospects and degradation of their human capital in general. In turn, the degradation of human capital associated with the reduction of working hours and termination of employment after childbirth and during the upbringing of children can be considered as a factor constraining economic growth. Under some conditions, the forced transition to home-based child care services may be the result of institutional reasons. If so, then family-oriented policy measures can be considered as policy measures that contribute to the preservation of women's human capital and, consequently, long-term economic growth.
The research project Evaluating the Impact of Social Policy for Families with Children on Women's Labor Supply and their Human Capital, will conduct studies on one of the relevant areas of human capital development: the ability of the state to create conditions for women with preschool children to maintain and develop their human capital along with women who do not have children or have children of preschool and school age
Project Aim
Assess the contribution of the development of preschool education infrastructure and the introduction of part-time labor contracts (part-time employment) in the labor market to increasing the labor supply of women with children in Russia.
Project Objectives
- Form a panel database on preschool education institutions and the state of the labor market in the regions and cities of Russia: combining the regional database of Rosstat and survey data on households RLMS-HSE
- Assess the impact of social policy for families with children on the labor supply of women and their human capital
- Investigate the causal effects of differences in the availability of public child care services on:
- Women's participation in the workforce;
- Working hours;
- Business activities;
- Job-education mismatch.
Key Findings
2020
A panel database has been formed for research based on the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) and data from the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat)
2021
The most important socio-demographic characteristics affecting the employment of women with children in Russia have been identified, the analysis of the impact of family policy (May 2012 decrees) on increasing the availability of preschool education on the employment of women with preschool children has been carried out, the economic effect of increasing the availability of preschool education has been estimated. A database with municipal level controls has been collected and prepared for use
Publications
- Donina A., Kolesnik D., Pestova A. What Should We Do about the Employment of Women with Children in Russia? The Role of Preschool Educational Institutions (RU) // Economic issues. 2021. No. 12. pp. 94-117
- Donina A., Kolesnik D., Pestova A. What Should We Do about the Employment of Women with Children in Russia? The Role of Preschool Educational Institutions (RU), NCMU Scientific Digest, Issue No. 4. 2021
Conferences
International Research Seminar (Workshop) 1st Moscow International Workshop Applied Research in Labor Economics and Human Capital (RU) (MGIMO, November 12-13, 2021)
XXIII Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development (Moscow, Russia, April 5-22, 2022): special round table “Social Norms, Economic Inequality and Adaptation of the Population to Large-scale Economic Crises” (04/06/2022)