Balancing Work and Care: How Workplace Factors Can Mitigate the Gendered Impacts of Caregiving

Abstract Parental caregiving responsibilities can disrupt paid work, contributing to persistent gender inequalities in employment and earnings. Using Australian employer-employee linked data and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how workplace environments shape the impacts of caregiving shocks, focusing on parents of children receiving chemotherapy. Mothers experience large and persistent earnings losses, while fathers’ outcomes remain stable. Family-friendly firms and occupations, defined by high female representation in senior roles and lower work hour intensity, significantly reduce mothers’ earnings penalties. These findings highlight the important role of workplace conditions in reducing gendered economic costs of caregiving.