Implications of Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorder for Maternal Employment: United States vs. Norway

A country's social welfare system may play an important role in maternal employment. This study compared the labor market participation of mothers of children within the United States (U.S.) and Norway to examine whether the child's age and severity of the ASD affected mothers' employment differently between the two countries.

The 2019 National Survey of Children's Health was used for the U.S. analysis, and the 2019 administrative register data were used for the Norwegian analysis. A logit model was used to analyze the impact of a child's age and ASD severity on maternal employment in the U.S. and Norway. We presented the results as average marginal effects obtained from the logistic regression analyses.

After adjusting for mothers' sociodemographic variables and the child's age, U.S. mothers of children with mild ASD and moderate/severe ASD had respectively 12 and 25% points lower probability of being employed than U.S. mothers of children without special health care needs. In Norway, mothers of children with moderate/severe ASD had a 13% points lower probability of employment than mothers without special health care needs. The probability of being employed for mothers caring for a child with ASD was significantly greater as the child got older in both countries.

The employment gap was more substantial in the U.S. than in Norway. A general high employment participation rate among women and an elaborated welfare state and policy package seem to benefit employment among mothers of children with ASD in Norway.