Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Pregnancy accommodation laws require “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant workers, i.e., sitting down, lifting restrictions, and additional bathroom breaks. Although these laws may make it easier for women to remain employed during pregnancy, as a mandated benefit, they may also discourage employers from hiring employees who may become pregnant. We estimate the effect of pregnancy accommodation laws on labor market outcomes for women of childbearing age in order to determine whether these laws lead employers to discriminate against young women in hiring. Using a difference-in-differences design comparing women’s labor market outcomes across states throughout the staggered roll-out of thirteen state pregnancy accommodation laws from 2013 to 2016, we find no impact on female employment and wages. These null results are robust to a triple differences design that uses men’s labor market outcomes as an additional control. Subgroup analyses of groups most likely to be affected, including those with less education, in more physically intense occupations, and married without children, also show no consistent impact of the new laws. These results suggest that this group-specific mandated benefit did not lead to discrimination in the labor market.
Source: Journal of Population Economics
Authors: Emily Battaglia, Jessica H. Brown
Institutions: University of Delaware, University of South Carolina
Language: English
Topic: Labour Market and Migration
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Funder: University of South Carolina
OpenAlex ID: W4417014160