After-school care and parents' labor supply

•Exploit variation in cantonal (state) regulations of after-school care provision in Switzerland.•Restrict our analysis to confined regions along cantonal borders•No impact of the after-school care provision on parental employment•Positive impact on the full-time employment of mothers

Does the provision of after-school care promote maternal employment and thus help to foster gender equality in labor supply? We address this question by exploiting variation in cantonal (state) regulations of after-school care provision in Switzerland. To establish exogeneity of cantonal regulations with respect to employment opportunities and preferences of the population, we restrict our analysis to confined regions along cantonal borders. While no impact of the after-school care provision on parental employment exists overall, we find a positive impact on the full-time employment of mothers.