Investing in subsidized childcare to reduce poverty

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

August 29, 2019

Summary:

Expanding childcare is often considered as a suitable way to enhance employment opportunities for mothers with young children as well as to reduce child poverty. In this study, the authors critically investigate this assertion by simulating a set of scenarios of increasing subsidized childcare slots and mothers’ employment. For a variety of European welfare states, the impact on poverty and on the government’s budget is estimated using the European microsimulation model EUROMOD. The findings suggest that to achieve significant poverty reductions among young children, both additional childcare slots and increased mothers’ employment should be well targeted. The expenditures for additional childcare slots can to a large extent be recovered by the government receipts generated by the additional employment; however, there appears to be a trade-off between the extra revenue that can be generated and the extent of poverty reduction.

Published in

Journal of European Social Policy

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928719868448

Subjects

Link

- https://lib.essex.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1656027?lang=eng

Notes

Online Early


Related Publications

#525890

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest