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Can't work or won't work: Quasi-experimental evidence on work search requirements for single parents

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  • Avram, Silvia
  • Brewer, Mike
  • Salvatori, Andrea
Abstract
Increasing the labour market participation of single parents, whether to boost incomes or reduce welfare spending, is a major policy objective in a number of countries. This paper presents causal evidence on the impact of work search requirements on single parents’ transitions into work and onto other benefits. We use rich administrative data on all single parent welfare recipients, and apply a difference-in-differences approach that exploits the staggered roll-out of a reform in the UK that gradually decreased the age of the youngest child at which single parents lose the right to an unconditional cash benefit. Consistent with the predictions of a simple search model, the work search requirements have heterogeneous impacts, leading some single parents to move into work, but leading some (especially those with weak previous labour market attachments) to move onto disability benefits (with no search conditionalities) or non-claimant unemployment.

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  • Avram, Silvia & Brewer, Mike & Salvatori, Andrea, 2018. "Can't work or won't work: Quasi-experimental evidence on work search requirements for single parents," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 63-85.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:51:y:2018:i:c:p:63-85
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2017.10.002
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    2. Suziedelyte, Agne & Zhu, Anna, 2021. "The intergenerational impact of reduced generosity in the social safety net," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 1-24.
    3. Daniel Schaefer & Carl Singleton, 2017. "Real Wages and Hours in the Great Recession: Evidence from Firms and their Entry-Level Jobs," CESifo Working Paper Series 6766, CESifo.
    4. Simpson, Julija & Bambra, Clare & Brown, Heather, 2021. "Do Changes in Employment and Hours Worked Contribute to a Decreasing in the Mental Health of Single Mothers during a Period of Welfare Reform in the UK? A Longitudinal Analysis (2009-2019)," IZA Discussion Papers 14968, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Dahl, Espen S. & Hernaes, Øystein, 2022. "Making Activation for Young Welfare Recipients Mandatory," IZA Discussion Papers 15170, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Brewer, Mike & Cattan, Sarah & Crawford, Claire & Rabe, Birgitta, 2016. "Free Childcare and Parents' Labour Supply: Is More Better?," IZA Discussion Papers 10415, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Brewer, Mike & Cattan, Sarah & Crawford, Claire & Rabe, Birgitta, 2022. "Does more free childcare help parents work more?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. De Brouwer, Octave & Leduc, Elisabeth & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "The consequences of job search monitoring for the long-term unemployed: Disability instead of employment?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    9. Hernæs, Øystein M., 2020. "Distributional effects of welfare reform for young adults: An unconditional quantile regression approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Paul Redmond & Seamus McGuinness & Claire Keane, 2023. "The impact of one-parent family payment reforms on the labour market outcomes of lone parents," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(2), pages 346-370.
    11. Pascale Bourquin & Tom Waters, 2022. "Jobs and job quality between the eve of the Great Recession and the eve of COVID‐19," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 63-78, March.
    12. Espen S. Dahl & Øystein Hernaes, 2023. "Making activation for young welfare recipients mandatory," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(1), pages 96-121, March.
    13. Simpson, Julija & Wildman, John & Bambra, Clare & Brown, Heather, 2024. "Longer Working Hours and Maternal Mental Health: A Comparison of Single vs. Partnered Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 16875, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Pascale Bourquin & Jonathan Cribb & Tom Waters & Xiaowei Xu, 2019. "Why has in-work poverty risen in Britain?," IFS Working Papers W19/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Martin, John P., 2016. "Whither Activation Policies? Reflections for the Future," IZA Policy Papers 114, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Morescalchi Andrea & Paruolo Paolo, 2020. "Too Much Stick for the Carrot? Job Search Requirements and Search Behaviour of Unemployment Benefit Claimants," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Single parents; Active labour market policy; Work search conditionalities; Disability benefits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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