Reconciling work and family life

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Article

Reconciling work and family life

Published: 1 June 2006

On 16 February 2006, the National Statistics Office (NSO [1]) published a news release [2] concerning the current sharing of family responsibilities and working arrangements aimed at reconciling work and family life. The paper examines the level of participation in the labour market of persons responsible for children and other dependents, and the impact of lack of suitable care services. It also analyses the existing level of flexibility at the workplace that helps to reconcile family and work obligations. Data were derived from an ad hoc module (Labour Force Survey Second Quarter 2005), from which a subsample was extracted.[1] http://www.nso.gov.mt[2] http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=1525&backUrl=news_by_date.aspx?retainCriteria=true

The current sharing of family responsibilities and working arrangements aimed at reconciling work and family life was the theme of a news release published by the National Statistics Office. Most workers with childcaring responsibilities do not make use of paid childcare and instead leave their children with their relatives. The data reveal that many Maltese workers cannot avail of flexible working time arrangements for family reasons; this restriction is experienced more often by women than by men.

On 16 February 2006, the National Statistics Office (NSO) published a news release concerning the current sharing of family responsibilities and working arrangements aimed at reconciling work and family life. The paper examines the level of participation in the labour market of persons responsible for children and other dependents, and the impact of lack of suitable care services. It also analyses the existing level of flexibility at the workplace that helps to reconcile family and work obligations. Data were derived from an ad hoc module (Labour Force Survey Second Quarter 2005), from which a subsample was extracted.

Out of all households with persons aged between 15 and 64 years, 43% have children and 17% have disabled or elderly residents. Some 57% of people with caring responsibilities for elderly or disabled persons are inactive in the labour market. Most carers are women (66%), nearly half of whom are aged between 45 and 54 years old.

Forms of childcare

Table 1 shows that the majority of people with childcaring responsibilities (53%) leave their children with their wife, husband or partner. A total of 31.6% of respondents do not use childcare facilities despite the fact that they work.

**Table 1: Forms of childcare**
Forms of childcare
	Number of affirmative responses	%
Use a childcare centre/childminder	1,173*	2.0
Wife/husband/partner living in same house	31,636	53.3
Relatives/friends who are not paid	7,791	13.1
No form of childcare used although the person works	18,753	31.6
Total	59,353	100

* = under-represented

Source: NSO, News release, No. 24/2006, 16 February 2006

Some 12% of the respondents use their holiday leave or special working arrangements while their children are on holidays or when childcare facilities are unavailable. Almost two thirds of these workers (65.8%) report that they adopt such arrangements because there is no one to care for their children during the day, while a further 11.9% of these workers have to make special arrangements because they do not have anyone to care for their children at irregular times. Very few of those who make use of holiday leave or special working arrangements say they do so because they find childcare services too expensive (2%) or of insufficient quality (2.5%).

A large proportion of employed people (40.8%) would not like to change their working life pattern. Only 0.7% would like to work more and reduce their caring responsibilities, while 2% would opt to work less in order to spend more time with their family.

Flexibility in working time arrangements

Table 2 shows that, while 31% of the working population are able to modify their working schedule for family reasons by at least one hour, 43.5% cannot. Women experience significantly less flexibility in their working time schedule, compared with men.

**Table 2: Possibility of varying start and/or end of working day for family reasons by at least one hour**
Possibility of varying start and/or end of working day for family reasons by at least one hour
	Men		Women		Total
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Generally not a problem	33,510	33.1	12,109	26.3	45,619	31.0
Rarely possible	26,384	26.1	11,201	24.4	37,585	25.5
Never possible	41,242	40.8	22,693	49.3	63,935	43.5
Total	101,136	100	46,003	100	147,139	100

Source: NSO, News release, No. 24/2006, 16 February 2006

Men find it slightly easier to work extra hours during particular days in order to take other days off for family reasons (Table 3). Some 56.9% of women state that this is never possible, in comparison to 52.6% of men.

**Table 3: Possibility of working extra hours during particular days in order to take days off for family reasons**
Possibility of working extra hours during particular days in order to take days off for family reasons
	Men		Women		Total
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Generally not a problem	22,149	21.9	8,674	18.9	30,823	21.0
Rarely possible	25,832	25.5	11,138	24.2	36,970	25.1
Never possible	53,155	52.6	26,191	56.9	79,346	53.9
Total	101,136	100	46,003	100	147,139	100

Source: NSO, News release, No. 24/2006, 16 February 2006

Commentary

Data from this NSO news release suggest that reconciling work and family life is problematic for many Maltese workers. It tends to be more difficult for women than for men. The results also indicate that more men than women enjoy a flexible working time schedule. This may reinforce the gender divide as regards the reconciliation of work and family life.

Further information

See the topic report Combining family and full-time work (TN0510TR02).

Manwel Debono, Centre for Labour Studies, University of Malta

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2006), Reconciling work and family life, article.