In contrast, total hours of labor supplied by household members were higher
in the United States during this period, but also polarized across families. This
is associated with a more limited system of parental leave. While relatively
well-off households are able to afford high quality childcare or have one partner,
usually the mother, withdraw from the labor market, lone parents have fewer
childcare options and are likely to continue working. The methods in Corak,
Curtis, and Phipps (2011) certainly fall short of establishing a causal impact on
child attainments, neither in the long-run nor in the short-run, but our study
does demonstrate that public policy is contributing to parents balancing the
demands of work and family in different ways in the United States and Canada.