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Title: Parents with Nontraditional Work Schedules in Oklahoma Implications for Child Care
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: Understanding the child care needs of parents working nontraditional hour (NTH) schedules-defined here as any work outside of 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays-has become a growing concern for policymakers trying to reduce barriers to accessible child care. Families working these schedules can face extra challenges finding child care, and the child care arrangements they use are less often supported by public funds. Further, structural inequities in the labor and education markets mean that NTH schedules are more common for Black and Latino workers and workers in families with low incomes-who already face disparities in access to quality child care and good jobs. The child care crisis brought on by the pandemic and other challenges of COVID-19 have amplified these issues as well as the importance of the essential workforce and the impact of race on families' risks and opportunities. Using data from the 2014-18 American Community Survey and the 2016 Survey of Program Participation, we find that more than a third of Oklahoma children younger than 6 with working parents had parents that worked NTH schedules. The most common hours these parents worked were early mornings and weekends, with fewer working evenings or overnight. Although parents of all types and income levels work NTH schedules, these schedules are much more common among families that have faced structural barriers to employment, education, and good wages. This is true especially for families with low incomes, Black and Latino families, parents with lower levels of education, and single-parent families. Further, these patterns hold true for essential workers as well. This brief is one in a set of three examining NTH work patterns. The companion briefs include one providing these data for Connecticut and one for Oklahoma.
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Authors: Adams, Gina; Lou, Cary; Willenborg, Peter; Schilder, Diane
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Work, Family, and Time
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