Séminaire scientifique de l'OSC 2020-2021

Vendredi 7 mai 2021, 11h30 / 13h (Zoom video conference)

Parental employment uncertainty and early childhood development.
An analysis of the French case

Marta Facchini

Doctorante, Sciences Po OSC et LIEPP

Early childhood is a critical moment for the development of skills crucial for school success and social adjustment. A large body of literature has described socio-economic gradients in children’s skills. Following the life-course approach, scholars found that in Anglo-Saxon countries a turbulent work trajectory has a negative impact on child skills. However, we lack evidence from countries where parents can access larger and more comprehensive welfare support.

In this work, I investigate whether in France the employment uncertainty of the parents is associated with a reduced development of their children’s cognitive and soft skills. More specifically, I compare households whose parents have a permanent job to households whose parents have temporary jobs. Moreover, I study the role of persistent employment uncertainty, defined as a series of temporary jobs and may include episodes of unemployment.

Using multivariate regressions and linear probability models, I analyze nationally representative data from the birth cohort ELFE, collected by INED and Inserm starting in 2011. This work focuses on the first four waves of the survey, conducted when the children were respectively 2 months old, 1 year old, 2 years old and 3.5 years old. 

The first findings depict a complex picture, where the role of employment uncertainty seems to differ according to gender, social class and income of the parents.

L'inscription est obligatoire pour accéder à la session ZOOM (lien envoyé 1 jour avant).