Effects of autism spectrum disorder on parents labour market: Productivity loss and policy evaluation in Kazakhstan.
Lyazzat Kosherbayeva, Laura Kozhageldiyeva, Yolanda Pena-Boquete and 2 others
PMID 39229853WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of children with autism in Kazakhstan face high rates of job loss, especially if the child has a disability.
New government subsidies reduce the financial penalty for these mothers, but do not help those without a disability label.
Key findings
0122.2% of mothers of children with autism and a disability stopped working, compared to 15.6% of mothers of children with autism without a disability.
02The estimated annual productivity loss for a mother of a child with autism and a disability ranged from 899,643 to 1,302,282 tenge.
03Government subsidies for caregivers of children with disabilities reduced the productivity loss gap, but only for families where the child had a recognised disability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relies on official registration data, which may underestimate the true number of children with autism due to stigma or lack of diagnosis. The productivity loss is an estimate based on average wages, not actual income loss for each family. The survey sample was relatively small (406 valid responses) and drawn from parent associations, which may not represent all families. The model does not account for the value of unpaid care or the long-term career impact of leaving the workforce.
Declared interests
The research was funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the subsidy's effectiveness as a solution for all families. The policy only helps caregivers of children who have successfully navigated the bureaucratic process to be registered as having a disability, leaving those without this label without support.