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An OECD view on parental childcare

Presentation for “Parental Childcare and Employment Policy Conference: Collision or Complementarity?”

Prague, Czech Republic, 5-6th February 2009

Simon Chapple

simon.chapple@oecd.org

Child Wellbeing Project ELS/SPD, OECD, PARIS

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Recent OECD work on families and children

Starting Strong I & IIBabies and Bosses reviews (13 OECD countries)Family database (www.oecd.org/els/social/family)Society at a Glance (2008)Enhancing child wellbeing (2009)

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Fertility context: Czech women start young…

Average female age at first birth, 2005

Czech Republic 26.6France 28.5Germany 29.1Sweden 28.7United Kingdom 29.8OECD EU 17 28.0

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…but have few children

Total fertility rate, 2006

Change in fertility, 2000-2006

Czech Republic 1.33 0.18France 1.98 0.11Germany 1.33 -0.05Sweden 1.85 0.31United Kingdom 1.84 0.20OECD EU 19 1.57 0.05

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There are large gaps in work chances for Czech women

% employment rate gap (Male - Female),

2006

% unemployment rate gap (Female - Male),

2006

Czech Republic 17.5 2.5France 9.2 1.1Germany 11.5 0.3Sweden 4.8 0.5United Kingdom 12.1 -0.7OECD EU 20 13.7 1.6

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Czech child wellbeing is generally below average compared to the OECD EU

Child wellbeing dimension

Czech place out of 20 OECD EU

countries

Material wellbeing 13thHousing and environment 19thEducational wellbeing 15thHealth and safety 4thRisky behaviours 15thQuality of school life 12th

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Czech childcare spending is lower than average across the OECD EU (% of NNI)

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

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OECD views relating to parental care• Self-sufficiency of both men and women is encouraged via paid

employment• Too long parental leave (1-3 years) may undermine female

employment• Too short leave (< 6 months) may undermine child wellbeing,

especially the WHO exclusive breast feeding target• High quality early childhood education is cognitively beneficial,

especially for disadvantaged children• Parental care is not necessarily about a single primary carer: it is

also about work-life balance and choices of part-time work and work hours for both fathers and mothers