The Impact of Pre-Primary Enrolment on Maternal Labour Supply in South Africa

Abstract: I provide evidence on the impact of pre-primary school expansion on maternal labour supply in the context of South Africa. I draw on administrative data from the South African National Census in 2001 and 2011, and a Community Survey in 2007, to extract household information. My identification strategy exploits the staggered timing and intensity in the expansion of pre-primary school facilities across municipalities in an instrumental-variables regression. I find a robust impact from the implicit child care subsidy induced by the expansion on maternal labour supply ranging from 10.4% to 13.7%. My findings suggest that early childhood development reforms aimed at raising pre-primary enrolment rates can go beyond the scope of the child, raising incentives for women to actively take part in the labour market.