The impacts of subsidized nursery access and employment services on mother employment in Egypt

Last registered on September 16, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The impacts of subsidized nursery access and employment services on mother employment in Egypt
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008241
Initial registration date
September 15, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 16, 2021, 10:16 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Warwick

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
CREST
PI Affiliation
St. Catherine University
PI Affiliation
Director of Learning and Strategy at Sawiris Foundation for Social Development

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-03-22
End date
2023-03-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We plan to study the impacts of subsidized access to nursery, employment services, and their combination on mother employment, in the context of a country with very low female labor force participation and conservative gender role norms. We will study impacts on both mothers and children. We are particularly interested to investigate whether subsidies can foster mother’s employment, especially among the poorest mothers, and whether the impact of childcare subsidies can be magnified by offering employment services. We will also test whether the intervention has positive impacts on the cognitive development of the children of treated mothers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Caria, Stefano et al. 2021. "The impacts of subsidized nursery access and employment services on mother employment in Egypt." AEA RCT Registry. September 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8241-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We study the impacts of (i) a childcare subsidy (of either 25 or 75 percent of the median childcare cost), (ii) an employment service intervention, and (iii) the combination of interventions (i) and (ii). The childcare subsidy is available for 12 months. The employment service intervention will be run in partnership with a local job intermediation agency, who will match as many mothers as possible in the treatment group with a local employer. Matching consists in referring the mother for an interview with the employer who has open vacancies.
Intervention Start Date
2021-03-22
Intervention End Date
2022-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
See attached plan.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached plan.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
See attached plan.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached plan.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In our main experiment, we will evaluate the impacts of two interventions (i) childcare subsidies and (ii) employment services. We will randomize both interventions at the level of the individual mother. We will assign one fourth of the sample to pure control (no subsidy and no employment services), one fourth of the sample to childcare subsidy but no employment services (evenly split between the two levels of the subsidy), one fourth to employment services but no subsidy, and one fourth to both subsidy and employment services.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Stratified, by computer.
Randomization Unit
individual (mothers)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The treatment is not clustered. We plan to interview 5,000 mothers at baseline.
Sample size: planned number of observations
5,000 mothers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1250 control mothers, 1250 mothers with subsidies (either 25% or 75%), 1250 mothers with job placement, 1250 mothers with job placement + subsidies (either 25% or 75%)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See attached plan.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
St Catherine University
IRB Approval Date
2020-09-02
IRB Approval Number
1465
IRB Name
American University in Cairo
IRB Approval Date
2020-08-18
IRB Approval Number
2019-2020-140
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

PAP_Final.pdf

MD5: 3f80ca82d4137c93b9330067e54ee82a

SHA1: 10b7b912a5963840a4d3bf6745c0e338aa2283c9

Uploaded At: September 15, 2021

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials