The relationship between fertility and the participation rate of women in the workforce is an increasingly important area of study for economists, demographers and policy-makers. Recent data show important differences in the relationship between employment rates of women and fertility across Europe. For example, in southern Europe, low fertility rates are combined with low rates of female participation. In contrast, Nordic countries are experiencing relatively high fertility rates combined with high female labour market participation. Social Policies, Labour Markets and Motherhood analyses the effects of policies aimed to reconcile motherhood and labour market participation. Making extensive use of European Community Household Panel data, it compares the outcomes of policies in several European countries, analysing why they succeed in some environments but not in others. It will be of interest to researchers, policy-makers and graduate students working on labour markets, population economics, demography and the methodology of applied microeconomics.
Author(s): Daniela del Boca, Cécile Wetzels
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 337
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures......Page 10
Tables......Page 13
Contributors......Page 17
Preface......Page 21
Part I......Page 25
1.1 Introduction......Page 27
1.2 Welfare state typologies built around the concept of redistribution......Page 28
1.3.1 Esping-Andersen as a catalyst for new comparative welfare state research......Page 29
1.3.2 The aftermath of Esping-Andersen: from welfare regime clusters to gender regime clusters......Page 38
1.3.3 The role of culture in shaping gender regimes......Page 46
References......Page 48
2.1 Introduction......Page 52
2.2 Great institutional heterogeneity of early education and care......Page 56
2.3 Method used for the construction of indicators......Page 58
2.4 Degree of coverage of the childcare system......Page 60
2.4.1 Availability of childcare slots......Page 62
2.4.2 Opening hours of childcare provisions for infants and pre-school-age children......Page 64
2.4.3 Public share of costs......Page 66
2.4.4 Equivalent of free, full-time childcare coverage......Page 67
2.4.5 A qualitative approach to childcare coverage......Page 70
2.5 Financial burden of child education and care......Page 72
2.5.2 Public spending on education for children enrolled in pre-school provisions......Page 73
2.6.1 Final score of the countries' childcare systems......Page 75
References......Page 84
3.1 Introduction......Page 87
3.2 Main features of maternity and paternity leave schemes......Page 89
3.3 Discussing parental leave systems......Page 93
3.3.1 Elements related to the lack of supportiveness of parental work......Page 96
3.3.2 Elements supportive of parents' labour market attachment......Page 99
3.3.3 Building synthetic legislative indicators......Page 101
3.3.4 Policy outcomesleave take-up and work resumption......Page 103
3.4 Conclusion......Page 109
References......Page 127
4.1 Introduction......Page 131
4.2 Building a child cash benefit indicator......Page 132
4.2.1 Income variation......Page 133
4.2.3 Variation with the child's age......Page 137
4.2.5 Final score for cash benefits......Page 138
4.3 Building a child tax benefit indicator......Page 140
4.3.1 Simulation of tax benefits......Page 142
4.3.2 Low-earning families......Page 143
4.3.3 Average-earning families......Page 147
4.3.5 Final score for tax benefits......Page 148
4.3.6 Final score for combined tax and cash benefits......Page 150
4.4 Building a childcare-related direct support indicator......Page 152
4.5 Conclusion......Page 155
References......Page 174
Part II......Page 177
5.1 Introduction......Page 179
5.2 The facts......Page 180
5.3 Issues......Page 186
5.4 New research directions......Page 193
5.4.1 Heterogeneity in preferences......Page 194
5.4.2 Time use and husband's role......Page 195
5.4.3 Endogeneity of social policies......Page 197
5.4.4 Outcomes for children and social policies......Page 198
5.5 Conclusion......Page 199
References......Page 203
6.1 Introduction......Page 206
6.2 The facts......Page 207
6.3 Issues......Page 214
6.3.1 Leaving the parental home......Page 215
6.3.2 Marriage markets and assortative mating: who marries whom?......Page 218
6.3.3 Marriage markets and the proportion of single people......Page 223
6.3.4 Education and the timing of maternity......Page 225
6.3.5 The labour market and the timing of maternity......Page 231
6.4 The econometrics of the timing of maternity......Page 235
6.5 Conclusion......Page 238
References......Page 244
7.2 The facts......Page 249
7.3 Issues......Page 257
7.3.1 Taking time out of the labour market for childcare, and wages......Page 258
7.3.2 Part-time work and wages......Page 263
7.3.3 Non-employment hours spent in childcare and wages......Page 265
7.3.4 Potential endogeneity of children in wages......Page 266
7.3.5 Bias in wage estimation from sample selectivity......Page 268
7.4 Conclusion......Page 269
Appendix 7.A......Page 270
Measurement error in explanatory variables......Page 271
Use of instrumental variables/fixed effects estimation......Page 272
References......Page 288
Part III......Page 293
8.1 Introduction......Page 295
8.2.1 The econometric specification......Page 296
8.2.2 Data and variables......Page 298
8.2.3 The empirical results......Page 300
8.3 Women's wage analysis......Page 306
8.4.1 Descriptive statistics of separate samples of mothers and childless women......Page 312
8.4.2. Correction for sample selection bias......Page 313
8.5 Discussion and conclusion on wages......Page 316
References......Page 326
Index......Page 328
