Broadband in the Labor Market

TLDR

The study examines how high‑speed home Internet use influences labor supply. An instrumental‑variables approach exploiting cross‑state variation in broadband availability shows that exogenous high‑speed Internet use raises married women’s labor‑force participation, with supplemental analyses indicating telework and reduced home‑production time as key mechanisms. High‑speed Internet increases married women’s labor‑force participation by 4.1 percentage points, especially among college‑educated women with children, while no effect is seen for single women or men, suggesting that home Internet improves work‑family balance.

Abstract

The author investigates how high-speed home Internet use has affected labor supply. Using an instrumental variables strategy that exploits cross-state variation in supply-side constraints to residential broadband Internet access, she finds that exogenously determined high-speed Internet use leads to a 4.1 percentage point increase in labor force participation for married women. No corresponding effect is found for single women or men. Among married women, the largest increases in participation are found among college-educated women with children. Supplemental analyses suggest that Internet use for telework and saving time in home production explains the increase in participation. The results suggest that home Internet facilitates work-family balance.