Mothers’ Time Choices

Abstract Using data from the 2003 and 2004 American Time Use Survey, we study the role that socioeconomic factors play in mothers' time choices. We estimate a four-equation system in which the dependent variables are the minutes used in home production, active leisure, market work, and child caregiving. Our results show that mothers' caregiving time increases with the number of children, decreases with age of the child, and increases with the price of child care. We also find a substantial positive wage elasticity for caregiving time, while both leisure and home production time declines with increased wages.