The availability and low cost of childcare arrangements for young children generally have a significant positive effect on the labor supply of parents. However, empirical evidence related to lengthening the school day, within an obligatory and fully subsidized framework, is sparse, and not found in Israel. The research examined the effect of the gradual implementation, in the late 1990s, of a long school day in primary schools in Israel – serving as a quasi-natural experiment – on the labor supply of mothers. No effect was found for the extended school hours on mothers' probability of participation in the labor force, employment a nd weekly work hours.

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