Childcare Allowance Research Articles

Ability transmission, endogenous fertility and educational subsidy

In this study, we attempt to investigate how educational subsidy, childcare allowance and family allowance affect economic growth and income distribution on the basis of simulation models which incorporate intergenerational ability transmission and endogenous fertility. The simulation results show that financial support for higher education can both increase economic growth and reduce income inequality, especially if the abilities of parent and child are closely correlated. In contrast with educational subsidy, raising childcare allowance or family allowance has limited impacts on growth and income inequality.

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Emily Chapman may be happy with her bursary and childcare allowances (letters February 22). Good for her. But I fail to see how she can begin to compare nursing students with other degree course students.

Business as usual? Employees' organisations' strategies in welfare legislation in Austria

The influence and power of the Austrian employees' organisations within the legislative process is declining. Since the change of government in 2000, this trend has accelerated. The goals and demands of the employees' organisations are increasingly disregarded, as is exemplified by the recently enacted law on the childcare allowance which has had a powerful impact on the Austrian labour market. First indications show that, in spite of the employees' organisations' efforts to regain ground, they have been unable to curb this trend.

La tributación familiar

This study examines the evolution of family taxation in Spanish Tax Law, with particular reference to direct taxation (Personal Income Tax, Wealth Tax and Inheritance and Gift Tax). As far as Income and Wealth Taxes are concerned, the tax treatment of family units is analysed from a constitutional perspective, with regard to the principles of ability to pay and equality, as well as the different reforms arising from constitutional court decisions, in the case of both joint and separate taxation, and its consequences with regard to the economic status of spouses according to Civil Law, women at work, child care allowances, the tax effects of separation and divorce, and the situation of non-residents. In the case of Inheritance and Gift Tax, the article analyses the situation of spouses and children, and includes a special reference to the problem of unmarried couples.

Family costs

Childcare allowances for nursing students are inadequate, inconsistent and complicated to obtain. With two in five nursing students a parent, attrition rates are bound to rise unless government addresses the imbalance.

A comparison of the conditions for reconciling professional and family life in Europe . with special consideration of regulations governing parental leave

The lives of women in (Western) European countries today display - in principle, albeit to varying degrees - a twofold orientation. Indeed, women identify strongly with both their professional and their family life. Given the growing importance of professional considerations in the way women plan their lives, the reconciliation of working life with family commitments has now become a key challenge for the establishment of equal opportunities between the sexes. The importance attached to this issue in contemporary politics - at least in terms of the lip service paid to it - can be seen, among other things, within the framework of the Third Action Programme for Equal Opportunities (1991-1995) in which the European Union (EU) called on its Member States to develop measures enabling both parents better to reconcile their professional and their family commitments. The United Nations also highlighted this issue as one of the main aspects of the International Year of the Family (1994). The key factors influencing the reconciliation of professional and family life include different traditional attitudes to women's work outside the home, the family-friendly organisation of gainful employment and the extent to which public childcare facilities and other support structures are available. These are the aspects with which I shall deal first of all. However, my main interest lies in the special regulations governing childcare leave - at statutory or collectively agreed level - adopted and implemented in many European countries over the past few years. I have chosen to use the internationally more frequently used term "parental leave" (Eltemurlaub) in this report, although the common terms used in Germany are "childcare leave" (Erziehungsurlaub) and "childcare allowance" (Erziehungsgeld). With the growing impact of international organisations and international integration on our everyday lives, transnational comparison becomes increasingly important. Moreover, an international comparison serves to illustrate how greatly the role played by mothers and the status of women at work actually differ, or are differently perceived, in different countries and how greatly career patterns and the basic social conditions surrounding gainful employment vary, thus revealing the room for manoeuvre in terms of political organisation and action. My analysis covers the Member States of the European Union. As this report was prepared at a time when there were twelve Member States and four applicant Member States, Norway has also been included in some points1. It makes sense to include Norway since interesting experience relevant to the issues discussed in this paper has been gained there - as also in the other Scandinavian countries. Some of the statements relating to the Federal Republic of Germany are restricted to the Länder of the old West Germany because the comparative statistics available were compiled on this basis. Statutory regulations governing parental leave are currently in force in twelve EU Member States, although in Belgium and Denmark the regulations in question include child care as only one among a number of reasons for taking a career break. It is not the main aim of my report to describe the various regulations in as much detail as possible - indeed, this would be a virtually impossible task since the details of the provision are altered so frequently. I am more concerned with analysing the initial experience gained in connection with these regulations, despite the fact that some of them have been in force only for a relatively short period of time. The focal point of my interest will be an analysis of the extent to which the new opportunities are actually being taken up, of how many people return to work, of the arrangements in force to this end, and of the impact of these political measures on the individual careers of parents, on companies' staffing plans and on the labour market. Against this background I shall evaluate how these political instruments contribute to establishing equal opportunities for the sexes. As an initial example, I shall consider the experience gained in Germany and then compare this in some detail with experiences in Sweden and France.

Why child care is still an issue for the NHS.

Focuses on the provision of child care within the National Health Service, an organization in which 79 per cent of the workforce is women. Outlines the four main types of child care used by employers; workplace nurseries; child care allowances; referral services; and after‐school care.