1. 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
2. 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
4. 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
5. Policy is shaped by work, family and child outcomes…
Total fertility Employment Gender pay Child Childcare PISA reading Public
rate to population gap1 poverty2 enrolment scores3 spending on
ratio (aged <6) family
benefits4,5
Women 15-64, mid-late
2009* 2008*** 2008***** 2009 % GDP, 2007
2009** 2000s****
OECD Average
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)
(intervals)
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
Around the OECD average
Above the OECD average Below the OECD average
(or no data)
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)
6. In general, child poverty has showed no improvements
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.
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
7. Children in jobless households are more likely to be poor
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)
8. Children in sole-parent families are more likely to be poor
Poverty rates among households with children by family status, 2005/08
All households with children Single parents with children Couple families with children
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
9. 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)
11. The policy mix varies across countries...
Public spending on family benefits in cash, services and tax measures, in % of GDP, 2007
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
12. No country with above average spending has above average
poverty rates
Total social spending on children aged 0-17 and child poverty rates
13. Public spending is concentrated on compulsory schooling
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
15. 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
OECD average = Austria
OECD average =
58.2%
Czech Republic 0.63%
Ireland
Slovak Republic
80 60 40 20 0 0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
16. … facilitates maternal employment and reduces poverty
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
17. 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.
18. 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)
20. Today most mothers are in paid work
Maternal employment rates, women with a child under 15, 2008
Source: OECD Family Database (www.oecd.org/els/social/family/database), indicator LMF1.2
21. A barrier to maternal employment is childcare costs
Families where both parents earn 100% of the average worker earnings
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
22. A challenge to higher female employment is unpaid work
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
23. 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)
25. Parenting practices are key for child outcomes
Source: OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, OECD, Paris. (www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter)
26. Parent’s educational support and student performance
Parental support at beginning of primary Parental support at age 15
school
Score point difference between students whose parents often Score point difference between students whose parents often
(weekly or daily) "read books" with the student and those who (weekly or daily) "discuss books, films or televisions
do not. 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.
28. 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
29. More information
• Maria.HUERTA@oecd.org
• 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