Impact of Child Disability on Mothers’ and Fathers’ Employment Trajectories in Italy

Nicoletta Balbo, Bocconi University
Tito Boeri, Università Bocconi
Edoardo Di Porto, INPS
Chiara Serra , Bocconi University

This paper investigates how the disability of a child affects employment trajectories and the labour market performance of mothers and fathers. Leveraging comprehensive Italian administrative data, we first match parents having a child with or without a disability employing propensity score matching techniques and then compare their labour market outcomes using an event study design. Our preliminary results underscore a pronounced and statistically significant downturn in income levels and active participation in the labour market for parents with a child with a disability. Remarkably, this adverse impact lingers over time and manifests as markedly more severe for mothers than fathers.

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 Presented in Session 83. Economic Impacts of Population Change