Abstract
Children depend on guardians for a wide range of needs, such as nourishment, clothing, housing, and guidance. But how can guardians predict the financial effects of having one more child? This question stems from several topics, concerning income and work hours in the United States. Using data from the 2018 Current Population Survey, this paper analyzes trends in guardian work hours during an average year and presents some implications for policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Introduction
According to a report by the National Center for Children in Poverty, low-income families make below twice the Federal Poverty Level, or “$47,248 for a family of four with two children" in 2013 (Jiang et al. 2013). For a low-income family, having a child without an increase in wages leaves the guardian two choices: they may work additional hours or stay home to raise the child and budget their funds. Neither choice is simple, and both have barriers.
In their 2016 study, “Motherhood and the Wages of Women in Professional Occupations,” authors Claudia Buchmann and Anne McDaniel analyzed different wage gaps in the job market. The study primarily focused on the gap between men and women, but also tested for the effects of a woman’s marital status and number of children. Specifying the number of children in categories ranging from 0 to 3 or more, they found “...in medicine, STEM, and law, mothers earn more than nonmothers, regardless of number of children.” Women were considered “similar” across these fields and, on average, paid more than childless women. The authors noted a gap between women in male-dominated and female- dominated fields where women in female-dominated fields saw an adverse effect: as the number of children increased, they experienced lower wages (Buchmann and McDaniel, 2016). These women are generally expected to stay home and take care of new children, but several factors determine whether a person can stop working.
The 2006 report, “Children in Low-Income Families,” found a “...dramatic increase in work among single-parent families (from 56.6 to 61.3 percent).” This increase in single-parent households supports a positive correlation between single-parent status and number of work hours needed to provide for children. Furthermore, the authors noted: “Only 29 percent of Americans worked a standard work week, defined as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.” Combined, these pieces of information show there is a strong variation in work hours for single-parent families. The report also stated that fathers who worked weekends spent an hour more at work per week than fathers who didn’t, reflecting a financial need to work additional hours (Beadle et al. 2006).
The COVID-19 Pandemic presents added complications. In February 2020, the US Employment- Population Ratio was 61.1%. By April, this percentage had fallen to 51.3%, a rapid decline of 9.8% (Federal Reserve Economic Data, 2021). A large share of unemployed workers came from jobs in accommodation and food services, which saw massive layoffs (Fronstin and Woodbury, 2020). In recent months, the Employment-Population Ratio has risen to 57.4%. However, for these industries that require in-person work, returning poses a severe tradeoff of income versus exposure to disease.