MARRIED WOMENS ALLOCATION OF TIME TO EMPLOYMENT AND CARE OF ELDERLY PARENTS

Married women, who have been shown in past research to exhibit relativ ely elastic labor supply, constitute a group of particular interest wi th respect to decisions concerning time spent in parental care and tim e spent in market work. This paper presents estimates of a simultaneou s-equations model of employment, hours of work and the provision of ca re to an older parent. The results provide no evidence of reduced prop ensities to be employed, or of reduced conditional hours of work, due to the provision of parent care. These findings are consistent with ot her research on women's allocation of time to competing productive use s.