Children and Family Policies across the OECD

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

• [email protected]

• 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