A report examined the experiences and preferences of low-income Caribbean, Pakistani, and Somali people in the United Kingdom in balancing work and care responsibilities. It said that: discrimination prevented people from balancing work and care; many people were unaware of free childcare provision for 2-4 year olds; benefit changes were likely to make it more difficult to balance work and care; attitudes towards caring varied greatly across ethnic groups; and caring responsibilities were predominantly taken up by women. The report made a range of recommendations including for better access to employment and flexible working, for information and advice to be improved, for a range of measures to improve access to formal childcare, and for policy to be reviewed to ensure that it met the needs of all families.
Source: Omar Khan, Akile Ahmet, and Christina Victor, Balancing Caring and Earning for British Caribbean, Pakistani and Somali People, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2014-Jun
A report brought together the core findings from a series of six short statistical reports about the reconciliation of work, private, and family life in Europe. It said that the work had highlighted large gender disparities in employment situations between parents and non-parents, with lower employment levels, fewer work hours, and more underemployment among mothers in many western European countries, as compared with women without children and men with or without children. The work had also found persistent inequality among social groups, that certain groups such as single parents were more vulnerable to the challenges of work-life balance, and that long-standing social and cultural norms played a role in perpetuating gender inequality in employment. The report said that there were large differences between European Union member states in levels of, and support for, employment, and that, although the situation varied between countries, childcare and cultural norms regarding children were still important factors in employment decisions. The report concluded that there had not generally been a move away from the 'male breadwinner' model, and said that the findings illustrated the importance of recognizing the heterogeneity among groups (of women, men, parents, or non-parents), the importance of considering gender roles and cultural norms, and a need for work-life reconciliation policies targeting vulnerable groups. The supporting work was published as a series of annexes, alongside this report.
Source: Melinda Mills, Flavia Tsang, Patrick Prag, Kai Ruggeri, Celine Miani, and Stijn Hoorens, Gender Equality in the Workforce: Reconciling work, private and family life in Europe – final report, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 1: Melinda Mills, Patrick Prag, Flavia Tsang, Katia Begall, James Derbyshire, Laura Kohle, Celine Miani, and Stijn Hoorens, Use of Childcare Services in the EU Member States and Progress Towards the Barcelona Targets: Short Statistical Report No. 1, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 2: Celine Miani and Stijn Hoorens, Parents at Work: Men and women participating in the labour force – Short Statistical Report No. 2, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 3: Kai Ruggeri and Chloe Bird, Single Parents and Employment in Europe: Short Statistical Report No. 3, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 4: Melinda Mills and Patrick Prag, Gender Inequalities in the School-to-Work Transition in Europe: Short Statistical Report No. 4, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 5: Flavia Tsang, Michael Rendall, Charlene Rohr, and Stijn Hoorens, Emerging Trends in Earnings Structures of Couples in Europe: Short Statistical Report No. 5, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Annex 6: Patrick Prag and Melinda Mills, Family-Related Working Schedule Flexibility across Europe: Short Statistical Report No. 6, RAND Europe
Links: Report
Date: 2014-May
A paper examined the reallocation of resources across age and gender in 10 European countries (including the United Kingdom), based on the results of the National Transfer Accounts project and data from income and time use surveys. It said there were large cross-country differences in the age- and gender-specific levels and type of production activities (attributed to differences in the labour market behaviour of women with children) and, consequently, in the reallocation of resources across age. Women in the UK were found to have one of the lowest levels of aggregate life cycle surplus (the measure of resources produced but not consumed during working age), which was attributed to low levels of contribution and high overall levels of consumption, relative to earned income. It said the results indicated that welfare systems should take into account private transfers, including services produced within households for their own consumption.
Source: Bernhard Hammer, Alexia Prskawetz, and Inga Freund, Reallocation of Resources Across Age in a Comparative European Setting, Working Paper 13, WWWforEurope
Links: Report
Date: 2014-Apr