SPI *Research Brief *Research Report Financial Security

Expanded Child Tax Credit payments have not reduced employment

Approximately 60 million American children living in 35 million households received monthly payments from the federal government as part of the temporary Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion. Discourse over whether or not the expanded CTC caused parents to leave the workforce emerged during the period of the expanded credit. On one side, a large number of economists argued that the CTC will not cause a reduction in employment. However, a recent study used a simulation approach to estimate that 2.6% of parents will exit the labor force as a result of the CTC.

The reports below address the question of whether the CTC is affecting parents’ employment by using data from the Census Household Pulse to compare employment trends among parents and non-parents before and after the CTC payments began.

Below is our initial report, published in October of 2021, and follow-up reports, published with updated Census Household Pulse data from March 2022 and January 2022.

March 2022 Report

Roll, Stephen; Hamilton, Leah; and Chun; Yung. “Expanded Child Tax Credit Payments Have Not Reduced Employment,” (March 2022). Social Policy Institute.

January 2022 Report

Roll, Stephen; Hamilton, Leah; and Chun; Yung. “Expanded Child Tax Credit Payments Have Not Reduced Employment,” (January 2022). Social Policy Institute.

October 2021 Report

Roll, Stephen; Hamilton, Leah; and Chun; Yung. “Expanded Child Tax Credit Payments Have Not Reduced Employment,” (Oct. 2021). Social Policy Institute.