IEAS Working Paper No. 23-A003, May 2023

Abstract:
This study utilizes Taiwanese population-wide administrative data to investigate parental labor supply responses when their children have disabilities. The results demonstrate that child disability reduces mothers’ employment rate and annual earnings by 9% and 16%, which persists for a minimum of ten years. In contrast, fathers’labor supply remains largely unchanged, except when their income is less than that of the mothers. In such cases, mothers’ labor supply still decreases more sharply than fathers’. Further analysis indicates that unequal gender norms may play a more significant role in explaining this asymmetry than relative labor income.