children and family policies across the oecd
DESCRIPTION
Eurochild’s Annual ConferenceCardiff, 1 December 2011TRANSCRIPT
Children and Family Policies across the OECD
Eurochild’s Annual Conference
Cardiff, 1 December 2011
María del Carmen Huerta
Social Policy Division, OECD. www.oecd.org/els/social/family/
www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter
Outline
1. Family policy objectives and families at risk
2. Financial support for families with children
3. Childcare policies
4. Parental employment
5. Parenting practices
6. Summary
1. Family policy objectives and families at risk
Family Policy is key for improving child outcomes
o Family policy goals may complement each other:
Promoting parental employment
Reducing family poverty
Enhancing child development
Enabling people to have children at preferred time
Enhancing gender equity
Policy is shaped by work, family and child outcomes…
The OECD average is calculated as the unweighted average for OECD countries for which data is available. Countries are categorised in “above” or
“below” groups if they are at least half a standard deviation above or below the OECD average.
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Total fertility
rate
Employment
to population
ratio
Gender pay
gap1
Child
poverty2
Childcare
enrolment
(aged <6)
PISA reading
scores3
Public
spending on
family
benefits4,5
2009*Women 15-64,
2009**2008***
mid-late
2000s****2008***** 2009 % GDP, 2007
OECD Average
(intervals)1.74 (+/- 0.183) 59.6 (+/- 5.52) 16 (+/- 4.1) 12.7 (+/- 3.06) 54.7 (+/- 7.38) 494 (+/- 11.4) 2.2 (+/- 0.46)
Austria 1.39 66.4 21 6.2 44.3 - 3.1
Belgium 1.83 56.0 10 10.0 73.6 506 3.1
Denmark 1.84 73.1 12 3.7 78.6 495 3.7
Finland 1.86 67.9 21 4.2 51.0 536 2.7
France 1.99 60.0 12 8.0 70.8 496 3.7
Germany 1.36 65.2 25 8.3 60.2 497 2.8
Greece 1.53 48.9 10 13.2 30.2 483 1.3
Hungary 1.33 49.9 2 7.2 48.0 494 3.3
Italy 1.41 46.4 1 15.3 63.6 486 1.4
Netherlands 1.79 70.6 17 9.6 61.3 508 2.9
Poland 1.40 52.8 14 21.5 26.0 500 1.5
Slovak Republic 1.41 52.8 - 10.9 37.3 477 2.2
Spain 1.40 53.5 12 17.3 66.9 481 1.6
Sweden 1.94 70.2 15 7.0 68.4 497 3.1
United Kingdom 1.94 65.6 21 10.1 64.4 494 3.6
Above the OECD averageAround the OECD average
(or no data)Below the OECD average
In general, child poverty has showed no improvements
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Proportion of children <18 years old living in poor households
Note: Poverty thresholds are set at 50% of the equivalised median household income of the entire population.
Poverty rates among households with children by employment status, 2005/08
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Children in jobless households are more likely to be poor
Children in sole-parent families are more likely to be poor
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
All households with children Single parents with children Couple families with children
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Poverty rates among households with children by family status, 2005/08
Risks of poverty are acute in young families
Equivalised net household income in employed households as a ratio of the total poverty threshold 2008
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
2. Financial Support for Families with Children
The policy mix varies across countries...
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Public spending on family benefits in cash, services and tax measures, in % of GDP, 2007
No country with above average spending has above average poverty rates
Total social spending on children aged 0-17 and child poverty rates
Public spending is concentrated on compulsory schooling
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
3. Childcare services
Public investment in childcare can lead to high participation …
Childcare enrolment, children aged < 6 Public expenditure on childcare, % GDP
Denmark
Belgium
France
Sweden
Spain
UK
Italy
Portugal
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Germany
Finland
Hungary
Austria
Czech Republic
Ireland
Slovak Republic
020406080
OECD average =
58.2%
0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4
OECD average =
0.63%
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
… facilitates maternal employment and reduces poverty
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Pre-primary education translates into better oucomes
• Growing evidence that early childhood programmes improve children’s well-being, help learning outcomes more equitable, improve social mobility.
• Results from PISA suggest attending pre-primary education is strongly associated with reading performance at age 15, even after accounting for socio-economic background.
• Immigrant students and those from disadvantaged families are more likely to benefit from high quality early education and care.
Use of formal childcare is lower among children in low-income families
Proportion of children aged < 3 enrolled in formal childcare services, 2008
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
4. Promoting parental employment
Maternal employment rates, women with a child under 15, 2008
Source: OECD Family Database (www.oecd.org/els/social/family/database), indicator LMF1.2
Today most mothers are in paid work
Families where both parents earn 100% of the average worker earnings
A barrier to maternal employment is childcare costs
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
A challenge to higher female employment is unpaid work
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Leave entitlements for fathers exist in half the OECD
Weeks of leave entitlements for fathers, 2008
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
5. Parenting practices
Parenting practices are key for child outcomes
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
Parent’s educational support and student performance
Parental support at beginning of primary
school
Score point difference between students whose parents often
(weekly or daily) "read books" with the student and those who
do not.
Parental support at age 15
Score point difference between students whose parents often
(weekly or daily) "discuss books, films or televisions
programmes" and those who do not
Before accounting for socio-economic background
After accounting for socio economic background
Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in a darker tone.
Source: OECD PISA 2009 database, Tables II.5.3 and II.5.4.
6. Summary
Summary
o Use all policy tools without “gaps”.
o Start to invest early in families with children and sustain it throughout childhood and over time.
o Ensure work pays for both parents and help parents provide for their own children through a range of work/family supports.
o Promoting parenting activities is important for child development.
o Promote more evidence-based policy making.
o Policy options in a fiscally constrained world: “social spending has to be smart” .
o
More information
• OECD Family Database
www.oecd.org/social/family/database
• OECD Child Well-being Module
www.oecd.org/social/family/database/CWBM
• OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families
www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter
• OECD (2009), Doing Better for Children
www.oecd.org/els/social/childwellbeing