an article by Tarani Chandola (University of Manchester, UK) and Cara L, Meena Kumari and Michaela Benzeval (University of Essex, UK) published in Sociology Volume 53 Issue 4 (August 2019)
Abstract
Debates around the benefits of flexible work arrangements for employee well-being are limited by a lack of empirical analyses on whether flexible working enables employees with work or family stressors to cope with their levels of stress.
This study examines whether the availability and use of different flexible work arrangements are associated with lower allostatic load (an index of chronic stress-related biomarkers) in a large representative study of UK adults. Male and female employees who made use of reduced hours working arrangements had lower levels of allostatic load.
Among women caring for two or more children aged under 15, there was a difference of almost one unit of the allostatic load index (an additional biomarker risk) between women who used reduced hours flexible work and those without such arrangements.
Reduced hours flexible work arrangements could enable women who combine work and family roles to reduce their levels of chronic stress.
Full text (PDF 22pp)
Hazel’s comment:
I would have loved to be able to work part-time when I had four young children at home but then I would not have earned enough money to be able to look after them properly! This is a dilemma many women still face today.
Showing posts with label childcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label childcare. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 September 2019
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
Subsidised childcare, maternal labour supply, and children's outcomes
a column by Francesca Carta and Lucia Rizzica for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
A growing number of advanced economies are opting for highly subsidised childcare systems. But studies have shown mixed effects of subsidised childcare on children’s outcomes, suggesting a potential trade-off between promoting female labour supply and providing the best care for children.
This column shows that an expansion of subsidised childcare in Italy increased female labour supply without hurting children’s outcomes. Childcare could be made more cost-effective by making it conditional on the mother’s employment status, or incentivising firms to provide corporate childcare options.
Continue reading
A growing number of advanced economies are opting for highly subsidised childcare systems. But studies have shown mixed effects of subsidised childcare on children’s outcomes, suggesting a potential trade-off between promoting female labour supply and providing the best care for children.
This column shows that an expansion of subsidised childcare in Italy increased female labour supply without hurting children’s outcomes. Childcare could be made more cost-effective by making it conditional on the mother’s employment status, or incentivising firms to provide corporate childcare options.
Continue reading
Monday, 23 July 2018
Nursery attendance and children’s outcomes
Centrepiece Spring 2018
The UK government has expanded the popular ‘free entitlement’ to part-time early education and care from a universal 15 hours per week to 30 hours per week for working parents. But research by Jo Blanden and co-authors reveals that the original policy was less beneficial for children’s development than might have been hoped.
Full text (PDF 3pp)
The UK government has expanded the popular ‘free entitlement’ to part-time early education and care from a universal 15 hours per week to 30 hours per week for working parents. But research by Jo Blanden and co-authors reveals that the original policy was less beneficial for children’s development than might have been hoped.
Full text (PDF 3pp)
Friday, 30 March 2018
Talking heresy about ‘quality’ early childhood education and care for children in poverty
an article by Donald Simpson (Teeside University, UK), Sandra Loughran (no affiliation given), Eunice Lumsden (University of Northampton, UK), Philip Mazzocco (The Ohio University at Mansfield, USA), Rory McDowall Clarke (University of Worcester, UK) and Christian Winterbottom (University of North Florida, USA) published in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice Volume 26 Number 1 (February 2018)
Abstract
This paper considers the socially progressive function of a model of ‘quality’ early childhood education and care widely prescribed to address child poverty across England and the USA.
Ubiquitous, it is imbued with a sense of objectivity, secureness and practicality.
We question these foundations.
Then using data from practitioners in both countries, we contrast expectations about this model of ECEC as an unmitigated good building resilience to ‘break cycles of disadvantage’, with the everyday experiences and frustrations of practitioners pursuing it.
Their data suggest this model of ‘quality’ has limitations and some heresy is required about this policy orthodoxy.
Abstract
This paper considers the socially progressive function of a model of ‘quality’ early childhood education and care widely prescribed to address child poverty across England and the USA.
Ubiquitous, it is imbued with a sense of objectivity, secureness and practicality.
We question these foundations.
Then using data from practitioners in both countries, we contrast expectations about this model of ECEC as an unmitigated good building resilience to ‘break cycles of disadvantage’, with the everyday experiences and frustrations of practitioners pursuing it.
Their data suggest this model of ‘quality’ has limitations and some heresy is required about this policy orthodoxy.
Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Turning up to be sent home without pay: life in insecure work
by Alex Collinson in Working Life (Touchstone blog from the TUC)
Imagine turning up to work only to be sent home without pay. It would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?
It would be more frustrating still if you had already paid for childcare that day; or if you’d cancelled other plans so you could work; or if not receiving that day’s pay would make it difficult to make ends meet that week.
For millions of people working in insecure jobs, this is what they face every day.
In a recent survey, the TUC heard from hundreds of people about their experiences of insecure work. Over the next four days, we’ll look at four themes that emerged in the responses:
Imagine turning up to work only to be sent home without pay. It would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?
It would be more frustrating still if you had already paid for childcare that day; or if you’d cancelled other plans so you could work; or if not receiving that day’s pay would make it difficult to make ends meet that week.
For millions of people working in insecure jobs, this is what they face every day.
In a recent survey, the TUC heard from hundreds of people about their experiences of insecure work. Over the next four days, we’ll look at four themes that emerged in the responses:
- Unpredictable hours
- Fluctuating pay leading to financial difficulties
- Fear of turning down shifts
- Sick pay and holiday entitlements
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Does free childcare help parents work?
Institute for Fiscal Studies Briefing Note (BN189)
Free part-time childcare places for all 3- and 4-year-olds in England were introduced in the early 2000s. The government is now planning to extend this offer from 15 to 30 hours per week (still for 38 weeks of the year) for children in working families from September 2017. One of the aims of the policy is to enable parents to work more – but is it likely to achieve this aim?
This briefing note draws on the findings of a new IFS working paper, Free childcare and parents’ labour supply: is more better?, by Mike Brewer, Sarah Cattan, Claire Crawford and Birgitta Rabe, to try to answer this question.
In this new work, the researchers compared what happened to the labour market outcomes of mothers and fathers as their children moved from being entitled to a free part-time nursery place (offering 15 hours of free childcare per week) to a full-time place at primary school (which effectively offers parents 30–35 hours of free childcare per week).
The research found no evidence that the work patterns of mothers with younger children, or those of fathers, were affected. There was evidence of an effect for mothers whose youngest child became eligible for free full-time care, but this was still relatively small: at the end of the first year of entitlement to free full-time care, mothers whose youngest child was eligible were found to be 5.7 percentage points more likely to be in the labour force and 3.5 percentage points more likely to be in work than mothers whose youngest child was at the end of their first year of part-time entitlement. This was equivalent to around 12,000 more mothers in work each year.
Should we infer from these results that the planned increase in entitlement to free care from 15 to 30 hours per week for 3- and 4-year-olds in working families in England will have a similarly small effect on parents’ labour supply?
There are some reasons to think that the effects identified by the researchers might be smaller than the future impact of this policy: for example, the researchers examined the effects of moving to a very rigid form of full-time childcare – that delivered during school hours and only during term time – while the plans for the new policy suggest that the additional hours of free care could be taken more flexibly, across fewer than 5 days per week and more than 38 weeks per year. The fact that the additional hours are only available to working parents may also encourage more parents to move into work in order to become entitled to the extra care.
But there are also reasons to think that the effects of the new policy might be smaller than those identified by the researchers: 30 hours is slightly less than the number of hours per week that children spend in school, and more mothers are in work now than they were at the time of the study.
Overall, it is difficult to judge what effect the proposed extension of free care from 15 to 30 hours per week for 3- and 4-year-olds in working families in England will have on parental labour supply, but the recent research conducted in England – together with the balance of evidence from the international literature – suggests that it is only likely to increase parental employment slightly.
Of course, the provision of additional free childcare is also likely to reduce the amount parents spend on childcare. But it will probably do so by far less than the amount the government will spend providing the extra care, because many parents use informal care (for which they do not have to pay) rather than paying for formal care to meet their childcare needs.
Full text (PDF 20pp)
Free part-time childcare places for all 3- and 4-year-olds in England were introduced in the early 2000s. The government is now planning to extend this offer from 15 to 30 hours per week (still for 38 weeks of the year) for children in working families from September 2017. One of the aims of the policy is to enable parents to work more – but is it likely to achieve this aim?
This briefing note draws on the findings of a new IFS working paper, Free childcare and parents’ labour supply: is more better?, by Mike Brewer, Sarah Cattan, Claire Crawford and Birgitta Rabe, to try to answer this question.
In this new work, the researchers compared what happened to the labour market outcomes of mothers and fathers as their children moved from being entitled to a free part-time nursery place (offering 15 hours of free childcare per week) to a full-time place at primary school (which effectively offers parents 30–35 hours of free childcare per week).
The research found no evidence that the work patterns of mothers with younger children, or those of fathers, were affected. There was evidence of an effect for mothers whose youngest child became eligible for free full-time care, but this was still relatively small: at the end of the first year of entitlement to free full-time care, mothers whose youngest child was eligible were found to be 5.7 percentage points more likely to be in the labour force and 3.5 percentage points more likely to be in work than mothers whose youngest child was at the end of their first year of part-time entitlement. This was equivalent to around 12,000 more mothers in work each year.
Should we infer from these results that the planned increase in entitlement to free care from 15 to 30 hours per week for 3- and 4-year-olds in working families in England will have a similarly small effect on parents’ labour supply?
There are some reasons to think that the effects identified by the researchers might be smaller than the future impact of this policy: for example, the researchers examined the effects of moving to a very rigid form of full-time childcare – that delivered during school hours and only during term time – while the plans for the new policy suggest that the additional hours of free care could be taken more flexibly, across fewer than 5 days per week and more than 38 weeks per year. The fact that the additional hours are only available to working parents may also encourage more parents to move into work in order to become entitled to the extra care.
But there are also reasons to think that the effects of the new policy might be smaller than those identified by the researchers: 30 hours is slightly less than the number of hours per week that children spend in school, and more mothers are in work now than they were at the time of the study.
Overall, it is difficult to judge what effect the proposed extension of free care from 15 to 30 hours per week for 3- and 4-year-olds in working families in England will have on parental labour supply, but the recent research conducted in England – together with the balance of evidence from the international literature – suggests that it is only likely to increase parental employment slightly.
Of course, the provision of additional free childcare is also likely to reduce the amount parents spend on childcare. But it will probably do so by far less than the amount the government will spend providing the extra care, because many parents use informal care (for which they do not have to pay) rather than paying for formal care to meet their childcare needs.
Full text (PDF 20pp)
Friday, 3 February 2017
Free childcare and parents’ labour supply: is more better?
IFS Working Paper (W16/22)
Authors: Mike Brewer (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and Institute for Fiscal Studies), Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies), Claire Crawford (University of Warwick and Institute for Fiscal Studies) and Birgitta Rabe (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex)
Abstract
Despite the introduction of childcare subsidies in many countries, the cost of childcare is still thought to hinder parental employment.
Many governments are considering increasing the generosity of their childcare subsidies, but the a priori effect of such a policy is ambiguous and little is known empirically about its likely impact.
This paper compares the effects on parents’ labour supply of offering free part-time childcare and of expanding this offer to the whole school day in England using an empirical strategy which, unlike previous studies, exploits both date of birth discontinuities and panel data.
We find that the provision of free part-time childcare has little, if any, causal impact on the labour market outcomes of mothers or fathers.
Increasing the number of hours of free childcare to cover a full school day, however, leads to significant increases in the labour supply of mothers whose youngest child is eligible, with impacts emerging immediately and increasing over the months following entitlement.
JEL classification: I21, J22
Full text (PDF 43pp)
Authors: Mike Brewer (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and Institute for Fiscal Studies), Sarah Cattan (Institute for Fiscal Studies), Claire Crawford (University of Warwick and Institute for Fiscal Studies) and Birgitta Rabe (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex)
Abstract
Despite the introduction of childcare subsidies in many countries, the cost of childcare is still thought to hinder parental employment.
Many governments are considering increasing the generosity of their childcare subsidies, but the a priori effect of such a policy is ambiguous and little is known empirically about its likely impact.
This paper compares the effects on parents’ labour supply of offering free part-time childcare and of expanding this offer to the whole school day in England using an empirical strategy which, unlike previous studies, exploits both date of birth discontinuities and panel data.
We find that the provision of free part-time childcare has little, if any, causal impact on the labour market outcomes of mothers or fathers.
Increasing the number of hours of free childcare to cover a full school day, however, leads to significant increases in the labour supply of mothers whose youngest child is eligible, with impacts emerging immediately and increasing over the months following entitlement.
JEL classification: I21, J22
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
The impact of free, universal pre-school education on maternal labour supply
a research paper by Mike Brewer, Sarah Cattan, Claire Crawford and Birgitta Rabe published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (October 2014)
Abstract
We estimate the impact of free, universal pre-school education for three year olds on maternal labour supply in England, exploiting discontinuities arising from date of birth eligibility cut-offs and geographical variation in the speed at which the entitlement effectively covered all children.
The impacts using geographical variation in the rollout imply that the expansion of the free entitlement, which increased the proportion of children in England who could access free part-time early education by around 50 percentage points between 2000 and 2008, led to a rise in the employment rate of mothers whose youngest child is 3 years old of around 3 percentage points, equivalent to about 12,000 more mothers in work.
Given the estimated rise in the fraction of three year olds using some form of early education over the period, the implied IV estimate is that those mothers who used early education only because it was free were 25 percentage points more likely to work thanks to the free entitlement: although this is very imprecisely estimated, this is in the mid to upper range of estimates from studies from other countries, many of which look at the impact of access to longer hours of pre-school care.
JEL Classifications: I21, J22
Full text (PDF 49pp)
Abstract
We estimate the impact of free, universal pre-school education for three year olds on maternal labour supply in England, exploiting discontinuities arising from date of birth eligibility cut-offs and geographical variation in the speed at which the entitlement effectively covered all children.
The impacts using geographical variation in the rollout imply that the expansion of the free entitlement, which increased the proportion of children in England who could access free part-time early education by around 50 percentage points between 2000 and 2008, led to a rise in the employment rate of mothers whose youngest child is 3 years old of around 3 percentage points, equivalent to about 12,000 more mothers in work.
Given the estimated rise in the fraction of three year olds using some form of early education over the period, the implied IV estimate is that those mothers who used early education only because it was free were 25 percentage points more likely to work thanks to the free entitlement: although this is very imprecisely estimated, this is in the mid to upper range of estimates from studies from other countries, many of which look at the impact of access to longer hours of pre-school care.
JEL Classifications: I21, J22
Full text (PDF 49pp)
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Negotiating Time and Space for Study: Student-parents and Familial Relationships
an article by Rachel Brooks (University of Surrey, UK) published in Sociology Volume 47 Number 3 (June 2013)
Abstract
Historically, university cultures have been described as masculine in orientation, and the ‘ideal learner’ as male, white, middle-class and unencumbered by domestic responsibility.
Nevertheless, more recent work has highlighted certain spaces within the higher education sector which, it is argued, are more welcoming of female students and those with family commitments. While there may now be more institutional spaces open to student-parents and others with caring responsibilities, we know little about whether similar change has been wrought in the domestic sphere.
Drawing on interviews with 68 student-parents, this article explores the various strategies UK students with dependent children used to find time and space, within the home, to pursue their studies.
By comparing these to the strategies used by student-parents at Danish universities, the article considers the extent to which differences in gender norms and state policy with respect to both higher education and childcare affect day-to-day familial practices.
Abstract
Historically, university cultures have been described as masculine in orientation, and the ‘ideal learner’ as male, white, middle-class and unencumbered by domestic responsibility.
Nevertheless, more recent work has highlighted certain spaces within the higher education sector which, it is argued, are more welcoming of female students and those with family commitments. While there may now be more institutional spaces open to student-parents and others with caring responsibilities, we know little about whether similar change has been wrought in the domestic sphere.
Drawing on interviews with 68 student-parents, this article explores the various strategies UK students with dependent children used to find time and space, within the home, to pursue their studies.
By comparing these to the strategies used by student-parents at Danish universities, the article considers the extent to which differences in gender norms and state policy with respect to both higher education and childcare affect day-to-day familial practices.
Monday, 25 February 2013
Returning to Work After Maternity Leave: Childcare and Workplace Flexibility
an article by Margaret J Nowak and Marita Naude Gail (Thomas Curtin University, Australia) published in The Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 55 Number 1 (February 2013)
Abstract
This article explores how responsibilities for childcare are managed as part of family decisions made around the return to work following a period of maternity leave.
We surveyed all women health professionals identified as on maternity leave on payroll records of the Health Department, Western Australia, and one private sector national provider of hospital services.
Survey questions were designed following a review of the literature and prior empirical work. The design enabled us to collect both quantitative information and interpretive qualitative responses from participants.
Over 50% of respondents expected to have childcare provided wholly by family members, while 15% anticipated the use of formal arrangements alone.
The planned arrangements for care can best be understood within a framework of a ‘family budget’ of time to be allocated between market-based work and childcare.
Attitudes to childcare are central to this ‘time economies’ framework.
Respondents experienced dissonance between the stated organizational family-friendly policy of their workplaces and practices at the management level. Employer-centred flexibility often disrupted their child-care arrangements.
We identify important employment policy issues for workplaces that would facilitate the optimal return to the workforce by professional women following maternity leave.
Hazel’s comment:
Oh yes, the difference between what the Employee Handbook says will happen and what your line manager actually agrees to can be immense!
Abstract
This article explores how responsibilities for childcare are managed as part of family decisions made around the return to work following a period of maternity leave.
We surveyed all women health professionals identified as on maternity leave on payroll records of the Health Department, Western Australia, and one private sector national provider of hospital services.
Survey questions were designed following a review of the literature and prior empirical work. The design enabled us to collect both quantitative information and interpretive qualitative responses from participants.
Over 50% of respondents expected to have childcare provided wholly by family members, while 15% anticipated the use of formal arrangements alone.
The planned arrangements for care can best be understood within a framework of a ‘family budget’ of time to be allocated between market-based work and childcare.
Attitudes to childcare are central to this ‘time economies’ framework.
Respondents experienced dissonance between the stated organizational family-friendly policy of their workplaces and practices at the management level. Employer-centred flexibility often disrupted their child-care arrangements.
We identify important employment policy issues for workplaces that would facilitate the optimal return to the workforce by professional women following maternity leave.
Hazel’s comment:
Oh yes, the difference between what the Employee Handbook says will happen and what your line manager actually agrees to can be immense!
Friday, 15 February 2013
In search of stability: women studying childcare in an English further education college
an article by Hazel R Wright (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge and Chelmsford, UK) published in Journal of Further and Higher Education Volume 37 Number 1 (January 2013)
Abstract
This paper demonstrates how women who study childcare achieve congruence in their lives. Rather than simply juggling the needs of family, work and study in order to escape the domestic sphere, they choose to minimise dissonance, finding that parenting children, working with children and studying children creates a stable framework with reciprocal rather than conflictual links.
The framework is captured as a model of `integrated lives' and, drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, further conceptualised as an example of a capability set for childcare students. The pattern of drifting into childcare, representing the students’ choices, is made visible through the creation of a set of occupational typologies.
Qualitative empirical evidence is used to explore the educational and broader social implications of integrating lives, and how this congruence encourages the uptake of new ideas as learning is multiply relevant.
However, shortage of time causes students to modify their approach to learning, causing many who espouse liberal values to favour knowledge transmission over more demanding styles, attracted to the former's apparent efficiency. Time constraints also encourage a retrospective acceptance of criterion-based assessment because fragmented knowledge is more easily manipulated when study patterns are sporadic and college work confined to those moments free from other commitments.
The findings are discussed in relation to concerns that full-time students now need to undertake part-time work and introduce some interpretive detail to this debate.
Abstract
This paper demonstrates how women who study childcare achieve congruence in their lives. Rather than simply juggling the needs of family, work and study in order to escape the domestic sphere, they choose to minimise dissonance, finding that parenting children, working with children and studying children creates a stable framework with reciprocal rather than conflictual links.
The framework is captured as a model of `integrated lives' and, drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach, further conceptualised as an example of a capability set for childcare students. The pattern of drifting into childcare, representing the students’ choices, is made visible through the creation of a set of occupational typologies.
Qualitative empirical evidence is used to explore the educational and broader social implications of integrating lives, and how this congruence encourages the uptake of new ideas as learning is multiply relevant.
However, shortage of time causes students to modify their approach to learning, causing many who espouse liberal values to favour knowledge transmission over more demanding styles, attracted to the former's apparent efficiency. Time constraints also encourage a retrospective acceptance of criterion-based assessment because fragmented knowledge is more easily manipulated when study patterns are sporadic and college work confined to those moments free from other commitments.
The findings are discussed in relation to concerns that full-time students now need to undertake part-time work and introduce some interpretive detail to this debate.
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Paying to work: childcare and child poverty
a report published by Barnardo's
Summary
Summary
- Under Universal Credit, once childcare costs are factored in, lone parents with more than one pre-school child will face significant disincentives to working enough hours to lift themselves out of poverty under Universal Credit. This group could face having to pay to go to work.
- Lone parents with only one pre-school child could face losing a significant proportion of any extra money that they earn. This could act as a substantial barrier for families looking to work their way out of poverty.
- Barnardo's believes that increasing the proportion of childcare costs covered under Universal credit to 80 per cent is essential. This would support the government's commitment on making work pay, and help give families a viable way to work themselves out of poverty.
- The government should also undertake a feasibility study on how to move towards and extension of the free early years entitlement from 15 hours to 20 hours, or beyond, for disadvantaged children. This would have the twin outcome of supporting employment for parents and helping the life chances of disadvantaged children, something strongly emphasised in it child poverty strategy. In addition if would help alleviate the problems of a lack of funding directed at disadvantaged children aged three and four previously outlined by Barnardo's.
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Moving beyond the child care debate toward implications for social and political agendas
an article by Michael J. MacKenzie (Columbia University, USA), David Liu (University of California, San Diego, USA) and Arnold J. Sameroff (University of Michigan, USA) published in Children and Youth Services Review
Volume 35 Issue 1 (January 2013)
Abstract
Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States [and in the UK].
Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children’s later development.
The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age.
The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas.
Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.
Abstract
Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States [and in the UK].
Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children’s later development.
The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age.
The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas.
Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Transforming Childcare, Changing Lives: Making sure that work pays
How to maximise Universal Credit by reforming childcare: a positional paper by the Centre for Social Justice (October 2012)
Foreword by Christian Guy, Managing Director of CSJ
Childcare has two key objectives: to support child development, and to support parents into employment thereby raising household incomes and building self-reliance. This report focuses on the latter of these two priorities. Universal Credit is an excellent start to removing barriers to work, and will transform many lives. Yet there is a need to tackle our broken childcare system if the full potential of these reforms is to be fulfilled. Childcare costs will hold people back from working unless they are brought under control. As the CSJ’s research identifying the five pathways to poverty (family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependency, addiction and serious personal debt) emphasises, work is transformative for individuals, families and wider society. It is the surest route out of poverty.
The benefit system recognises this by placing an obligation on parents to seek employment when their youngest child enters school. As the CSJ has long argued, the value of earned income and self-sufficiency extend beyond raising household income, individual well-being and self-esteem. Children raised in working households find it easier to find work in adult life, which in turn improves their life chances and prevents the damaging cycle of intergenerational worklessness. Despite this, 1.8 million children live in workless households in the U.K.
The Government’s commendable efforts to make work pay for those on low-incomes cannot be undermined by the high cost of childcare which can act as a major barrier to working. This report calls for the Government to lead a ‘supply-side revolution’ in childcare provision. Many disadvantaged families find the cost of childcare provision prohibitive – currently not all parents find it financially worthwhile to get a job and pay for childcare.
In this paper, we make recommendations as to how policy makers could improve the affordability and flexibility of childcare, how they should help families find work in ways and at times that keep childcare costs low, and how they can support parents to find the economic balance between employment and childcare.
Full text (PDF 38pp)
Foreword by Christian Guy, Managing Director of CSJ
Childcare has two key objectives: to support child development, and to support parents into employment thereby raising household incomes and building self-reliance. This report focuses on the latter of these two priorities. Universal Credit is an excellent start to removing barriers to work, and will transform many lives. Yet there is a need to tackle our broken childcare system if the full potential of these reforms is to be fulfilled. Childcare costs will hold people back from working unless they are brought under control. As the CSJ’s research identifying the five pathways to poverty (family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependency, addiction and serious personal debt) emphasises, work is transformative for individuals, families and wider society. It is the surest route out of poverty.
The benefit system recognises this by placing an obligation on parents to seek employment when their youngest child enters school. As the CSJ has long argued, the value of earned income and self-sufficiency extend beyond raising household income, individual well-being and self-esteem. Children raised in working households find it easier to find work in adult life, which in turn improves their life chances and prevents the damaging cycle of intergenerational worklessness. Despite this, 1.8 million children live in workless households in the U.K.
The Government’s commendable efforts to make work pay for those on low-incomes cannot be undermined by the high cost of childcare which can act as a major barrier to working. This report calls for the Government to lead a ‘supply-side revolution’ in childcare provision. Many disadvantaged families find the cost of childcare provision prohibitive – currently not all parents find it financially worthwhile to get a job and pay for childcare.
In this paper, we make recommendations as to how policy makers could improve the affordability and flexibility of childcare, how they should help families find work in ways and at times that keep childcare costs low, and how they can support parents to find the economic balance between employment and childcare.
Full text (PDF 38pp)
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Child poverty and family policies across eighteen wealthy Western democracies
an article by Daniel Engster (Department of Political Science, The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA) published in Journal of Children and Poverty
Volume 18 Issue 2 (September 2012)
Abstract
While a good deal has been written about the potential value of family policies in reducing child poverty in Western countries, few cross-national quantitative studies have been carried out on this topic.
This article uses ordinary least squares regression analysis on panel data from 18 Western democracies from 1987 to 2007 to test the significance of family policies and other welfare policies on child poverty rates.
It extends existing research on the relationship between family policies and child poverty by utilising a broader data-set in terms of time, countries, and child poverty measures.
The main finding is that all three of the main family policies studied – child cash and tax benefits, paid parenting leaves, and public support for childcare – correlate significantly with lower child poverty rates.
Somewhat surprisingly, disability and sickness insurance also correlates significantly with lower child poverty in nearly every model and test.
These findings provide valuable insight for future research and policy-making in the area of child poverty.
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
‘You have to choose your childcare to fit your work’: Childcare decision-making among low-income working families
an article by
Heather Sandstrom and Ajay Chaudry (Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute, Washington, DC)
Journal of Children and Poverty
Volume 18 Issue 2 (2012)
Abstract
Regardless of their economic background, most working parents face the task of arranging childcare at some point. The decision-making process they experience is often complex, and this complexity is intensified for particular groups of families with limited financial and social resources.
In this paper, we present findings from a three-year qualitative study of the childcare choices of low-income working families, many of whom were immigrants, had limited English proficiency, were parents of children with special needs, or represented some combination of these factors.
The study explored families’ current care arrangements, their reasons for selecting a particular form of childcare, and the characteristics of their ideal arrangements. Data were coded to identify themes in parental preferences, decision factors, and the barriers families faced in accessing their preferred care arrangements.
Most significantly, the parents studied described their preferences for an environment where their children could learn and be in the presence of caring and trustworthy caregivers. About a third of the families said they preferred relatives as caregivers, and selected relatives to provide childcare. Other parents selected care according to cost, location, and availability of the provider; they described the challenges of locating affordable, high-quality care that met their nonstandard schedules.
These findings have important implications for childcare policy.
Abstract
Regardless of their economic background, most working parents face the task of arranging childcare at some point. The decision-making process they experience is often complex, and this complexity is intensified for particular groups of families with limited financial and social resources.
In this paper, we present findings from a three-year qualitative study of the childcare choices of low-income working families, many of whom were immigrants, had limited English proficiency, were parents of children with special needs, or represented some combination of these factors.
The study explored families’ current care arrangements, their reasons for selecting a particular form of childcare, and the characteristics of their ideal arrangements. Data were coded to identify themes in parental preferences, decision factors, and the barriers families faced in accessing their preferred care arrangements.
Most significantly, the parents studied described their preferences for an environment where their children could learn and be in the presence of caring and trustworthy caregivers. About a third of the families said they preferred relatives as caregivers, and selected relatives to provide childcare. Other parents selected care according to cost, location, and availability of the provider; they described the challenges of locating affordable, high-quality care that met their nonstandard schedules.
These findings have important implications for childcare policy.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Self-employment, work-family time and the gender division of labour
an article by Lyn Craig, Abigail Powell and Natasha Cortis (University of New South Wales, Australia) published in Work Employment & Society Volume 26 Number 5 (October 2012)
Abstract
Does being self-employed, as opposed to being an employee, make a difference to how parents with young children can balance work and family demands?
Does self-employment facilitate more equal gender divisions of labour?
This article uses the Australian Time Use Survey to identify associations between self-employment and mothers’ and fathers’ time in paid work, domestic labour and childcare and when during the day they perform these activities.
The time self-employed mothers devote to each activity differs substantially from that of employee mothers, while fathers’ time is relatively constant across employment types. Working from home is highly correlated with self-employment for mothers, implying the opportunity to be home-based is a pull factor in mothers becoming self-employed.
Results suggest mothers use self-employment to combine earning and childcare whereas fathers prioritize paid work regardless of employment type.
Self-employment is not associated with gender redistribution of paid and unpaid work, although it facilitates some rescheduling.
Abstract
Does being self-employed, as opposed to being an employee, make a difference to how parents with young children can balance work and family demands?
Does self-employment facilitate more equal gender divisions of labour?
This article uses the Australian Time Use Survey to identify associations between self-employment and mothers’ and fathers’ time in paid work, domestic labour and childcare and when during the day they perform these activities.
The time self-employed mothers devote to each activity differs substantially from that of employee mothers, while fathers’ time is relatively constant across employment types. Working from home is highly correlated with self-employment for mothers, implying the opportunity to be home-based is a pull factor in mothers becoming self-employed.
Results suggest mothers use self-employment to combine earning and childcare whereas fathers prioritize paid work regardless of employment type.
Self-employment is not associated with gender redistribution of paid and unpaid work, although it facilitates some rescheduling.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
The marketisation of care: Rationales and consequences in Nordic and liberal care regimes
an article by Deborah Brennan and Bettina Cass (University of New South Wales, Australia), Susan Himmelweit (Open University, UK) and Marta Szebehely (Stockholm University, Sweden) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 22 Number 4 (October 2012)
Abstract
The use of markets and market mechanisms to deliver care services is growing in both liberal and social democratic welfare states.
This article examines debates and policies concerning the marketisation of eldercare and childcare in Sweden, England and Australia.
It shows how market discourses and practices intersect with, reinforce or challenge traditions and existing policies and examines whether care markets deliver user empowerment and greater efficiency.
Markets for eldercare and childcare have developed in uneven and context specific ways with varying consequences. Both politics and policy history help to shape market outcomes.
Hazel’s comment:
What effect is the marketisation of these services likely to have on the labour which is often seen as menial?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest that wages will get as low as possible in the UK and that terms and conditions of employment will get harsher in order to deliver a profit to the shareholders?
Abstract
The use of markets and market mechanisms to deliver care services is growing in both liberal and social democratic welfare states.
This article examines debates and policies concerning the marketisation of eldercare and childcare in Sweden, England and Australia.
It shows how market discourses and practices intersect with, reinforce or challenge traditions and existing policies and examines whether care markets deliver user empowerment and greater efficiency.
Markets for eldercare and childcare have developed in uneven and context specific ways with varying consequences. Both politics and policy history help to shape market outcomes.
Hazel’s comment:
What effect is the marketisation of these services likely to have on the labour which is often seen as menial?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest that wages will get as low as possible in the UK and that terms and conditions of employment will get harsher in order to deliver a profit to the shareholders?
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Trends and social divisions in maternal employment patterns following matern...
an article by Colette Fagan and Helen Norman (University of Manchester) published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Volume 32 Issue 9/10 (2012)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the social divisions in maternal employment patterns post-childbirth, recorded by earlier studies, have persisted for a later cohort of mothers that had a pregnancy in the early 2000s, in the context of an expansion of childcare and other improvements in reconciliation measures.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study are analysed using logistic regression.
Findings
It was found that mothers are more likely to be employed, and employed full-time, when their child is aged three if they were employed during the pregnancy and resumed employment within nine months of the birth. The mothers’ occupational class, ethnicity, household composition and the working hours of a partner also have independent associations with the probability of maternal employment once the child is aged three.
Research limitations/implications
The authors would expect these results to be modified – but not overturned – in a different national setting, for example where childcare services are more extensive or part-time employment is less common.
Originality/value
These new longitudinal survey results for a recent cohort of mothers in the UK demonstrate that resumption of employment following maternity leave is pivotal for women’s subsequent employment integration. Yet maternal employment trajectories remain shaped by social inequalities. Both results are important for informing debates about reconciliation policy for the pre-school years, including monitoring the impact of the recession on the employment integration of women following childbirth.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the social divisions in maternal employment patterns post-childbirth, recorded by earlier studies, have persisted for a later cohort of mothers that had a pregnancy in the early 2000s, in the context of an expansion of childcare and other improvements in reconciliation measures.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study are analysed using logistic regression.
Findings
It was found that mothers are more likely to be employed, and employed full-time, when their child is aged three if they were employed during the pregnancy and resumed employment within nine months of the birth. The mothers’ occupational class, ethnicity, household composition and the working hours of a partner also have independent associations with the probability of maternal employment once the child is aged three.
Research limitations/implications
The authors would expect these results to be modified – but not overturned – in a different national setting, for example where childcare services are more extensive or part-time employment is less common.
Originality/value
These new longitudinal survey results for a recent cohort of mothers in the UK demonstrate that resumption of employment following maternity leave is pivotal for women’s subsequent employment integration. Yet maternal employment trajectories remain shaped by social inequalities. Both results are important for informing debates about reconciliation policy for the pre-school years, including monitoring the impact of the recession on the employment integration of women following childbirth.
Women’s employment in the institutional and cultural context
an article by Birgit Pfau-Effinger (University of Hamburg, Germany) published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Volume 32 Issue 9/10 (2012)
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how cross-national differences in the employment rates of women with children under age three can be explained. It argues that not only differences in welfare-state family policies, but also differences in the gender culture contribute to the explanation of such differences.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the theoretical approach of the “gender arrangement” which conceptualizes the ways in which family policies and culture interact, together with social and economic factors, in their impact on gendered social practices. It then analyses the differences in the employment rates of women with children under age three in six European countries, and how these are influenced by family policies, the gender culture and the labour market situation in the specific country, using data from international surveys as well as country case studies from an international EU-Project.
Findings
The findings show that differences in family policies alone do not explain cross-national differences in the employment rates of mothers with children below age three. They support the argument that an explanation requires consideration of a more complex framework of factors, to which culture certainly contributes substantially.
Originality/value
The role that culture may have in the explanation of the employment of mothers with children in contrast to the role of family policies is still a contested issue. Empirical studies which support the assumption that culture matters in this explanation are still rare. This relates particularly also to the employment of women with children below age three. In this group, cross-national differences in these women’s employment rates are particularly high. The paper introduces theoretical and methodological elaborations in this regard.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how cross-national differences in the employment rates of women with children under age three can be explained. It argues that not only differences in welfare-state family policies, but also differences in the gender culture contribute to the explanation of such differences.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the theoretical approach of the “gender arrangement” which conceptualizes the ways in which family policies and culture interact, together with social and economic factors, in their impact on gendered social practices. It then analyses the differences in the employment rates of women with children under age three in six European countries, and how these are influenced by family policies, the gender culture and the labour market situation in the specific country, using data from international surveys as well as country case studies from an international EU-Project.
Findings
The findings show that differences in family policies alone do not explain cross-national differences in the employment rates of mothers with children below age three. They support the argument that an explanation requires consideration of a more complex framework of factors, to which culture certainly contributes substantially.
Originality/value
The role that culture may have in the explanation of the employment of mothers with children in contrast to the role of family policies is still a contested issue. Empirical studies which support the assumption that culture matters in this explanation are still rare. This relates particularly also to the employment of women with children below age three. In this group, cross-national differences in these women’s employment rates are particularly high. The paper introduces theoretical and methodological elaborations in this regard.
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