Job quality indicators and child-care access among mothers of young children in New England 
Examining the links between variable work schedules, work-life balance supports, and child-care access in New England
The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be reported as representing the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the principals of the Board of Governors, or the Federal Reserve System.
Inaccessible child care is a significant barrier to employment. This brief explores how specific job characteristics can influence a parent’s ability to access and maintain reliable child care.
Historically, caregiving demands disproportionately affect women, leading to persistent gaps in labor force participation. Mothers frequently face a wage penalty and often shoulder the primary child-care burden. Using survey data from nearly 2,100 New England mothers, this research explores how measures of work-life balance may predict successful child-care usage, or conversely, access challenges.
The study reveals that unpredictable schedules and a lack of workplace flexibility may exacerbate child-care constraints, disproportionately affecting nonwhite and lower-income workers. Conversely, employer-provided work-life balance supports have the potential to act as a defense against mothers having to forgo needed care.
Key Findings
- The Rise of Remote Work and Flexibility: Among surveyed mothers in the labor force, access to remote work increased by 19.0 percent, and flexible schedules increased by 14.0 percent from the pre-COVID-19 period to the 2022 survey, with these trends expected to persist.
- Demographic Disparities in Work-Life Balance: White mothers and mothers holding a bachelor’s or higher reported having a significantly higher number of work-life balance supports compared to nonwhite mothers and those without a four-year degree.
- A Slight Decline in Unsupportive Job Conditions: Job situations that are less supportive of work-life balance, such as working multiple jobs or working nontraditional hours, decreased slightly over time, according to mothers’ recollections, experiences, and expectations.
- Paid Sick Leave May Enable Greater Child-Care Access: Having access to work-life balance supports like paid sick leave increased the odds of a mother successfully using child care by a multiplier of 3.3. Conversely, exposure to unsupportive job characteristics (like employer-set variable work schedules or nontraditional hours) decreased the odds of using care by as much as 10.5 percent.
- Flexible Schedules Can Help Prevent Forgone Care: Having both a flexible schedule and paid sick leave was associated with decreased odds of a working mother having to forgo needed child care by as much as 68.9 percent. In contrast, unpredictable, changing schedules increased the likelihood of foregoing needed care by 71.1 percent.