The issue of childcare facilities for children featured prominently in the pre-election campaigns of November 2006. Almost all of the major political parties proposed some form of basic day care facility; even the Dutch Trade Union Federation put forward its own proposal. Increasing the level of women’s participation in the labour market is an important motivating factor in this context. The proposals have been made against the background of recent studies, which show that career prospects have deteriorated for women who work part time and who take leave to provide care.
FNV proposal
In October 2006, the Dutch Trade Union Federation (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV) launched its own proposal for childcare facilities for children. Among the key points of the plan is the proposal that day care should be available for all children below the age of 13 years, irrespective of whether their parents are in paid employment. Day care would therefore include lunchtime facilities and after-school care for children aged four years and older attending primary school. An income-related parental contribution would be charged at a maximum of 5% of net income. However, single-parent families would be exempt and an annual income threshold of €10,000 has been proposed, below which parents would not be required to contribute financially. In time, it is estimated that this plan would cost the government around €5 billion, of which parents would contribute 20%. FNV expects this system to generate increased labour market participation among women.
Other childcare proposals
The FNV recommendation is the latest in a string of proposals regarding institutional care for young and school-age children, which have been put forward by the political parties. In the run-up to the November 2006 general election, virtually all of the major political parties proposed some form of basic facility for childcare. In its pre-election campaign, the conservative liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD) proposed that day care services should be provided free of charge, five days a week. Within the scope of childcare being provided as a basic facility, the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA) suggested offering day care three days a week.
In September 2006, the Minister of Social Affairs, Arie-Jan de Geus, put forward a proposal to reduce day care costs for 80% of parents. The minister would also like to do away with the obligatory employers’ contribution, which some employers still refuse to pay (NL0609019I). However, he considers that all of the proposals to make day care for children a basic facility are unrealistic, adding that free care facilities would simply be unsustainable.
Existing provisions and study findings
Life-cycle leave arrangement
The life-cycle leave arrangement, introduced in 2002 by the Balkenende cabinet, is supposed to cater for employees’ differing leave requirements, such as for training purposes or the provision of additional care (NL0207103F). In comparison with earlier leave arrangements, life-cycle leave is characterised by a savings structure. Offering tax incentives, the scheme enables employees to ‘save’ for leave by contributing a proportion of their earnings. Studies now support the anticipated effect that male employees, in particular, would use the arrangement as a new form of early retirement. Analysis also shows that women would more readily use the life-cycle leave arrangement in their careers for the purposes of fulfilling care-related tasks.
Part-time work
A recent study (Romàn, 2006) shows that while men do not perceive part-time work as a hindrance to their career prospects, women do. Men, in many cases those who are highly qualified, appear to work part time earlier on in their careers and for a shorter period of time, after which they re-enter full-time employment. This enables them to catch up more quickly. In contrast, women tend to work part time for a longer period of time, which in turn has a significant impact on their socioeconomic status. Salary growth is stunted and part-time positions are classed as being incompatible with leadership roles. Taking leave compounds these negative tendencies for married women with children, two thirds of whom work part time.
In general, an interruption or temporary reduction in working hours has a negative impact on an employee’s career, particularly for women. Ten years on from such an interruption, women still earn less than their counterparts who did not stop working. The study, which also addresses involuntary absence from the labour market, concludes that as long as an interruption in work is deemed as deviating from the standard labour pattern, it will continue to have negative consequences for the employee’s career.
Marianne Grünell, Hugo Sinzheimer Institute (HSI)
Reference
Romàn, A., Deviating from the standard: Effects on labour continuity and career patterns, Utrecht, University of Utrecht, 2006.