Family benefits

Europe is giving more parental leave to its workers

Submitted by pmassetti on Fri, 03/22/2024 - 14:50

economist.com (21.03.2024) Most European countries have been making parental leave more generous since the 1980s. The eu sets a statutory minimum of 14 weeks leave for mothers and, since 2022, two weeks for fathers. But many member states offer leave that is much longer: the average across the eu is 21 weeks for women and three weeks for men, but lengths vary wildly. Paternity leave has been changing the most. Nordic countries were the first to introduce it by statute. Sweden had in 1974 introduced shared paid leave that could be taken by either parent; it now amounts to 69 weeks.

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Europe
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Family benefits
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Investments in Childcare for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific

Submitted by pmassetti on Fri, 09/29/2023 - 15:31

unrisd.org (01.08.2023) The provision of childcare remains patchy across Asia and the Pacific, largely due to the general lack of the statutory right to childcare. Limited access, affordability and quality mean that women’s participation in the workforce is diminished and the developmental needs of children remain underfulfilled. Children aged 0–2 are the most underserved, with mothers generally obligated to exit the workforce to care for this age group due to a lack of other options.

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Asia
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Family benefits
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Fertility, employment and family policy : A cross-country panel analysis

Submitted by pmassetti on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 16:27

oecd (21.09,2023) This paper analyses the association of labour market outcomes and family policies with fertility trends between 2002 and 2019 in 26 OECD countries. While the average age of mothers at birth of their children continued to increase over the entire period, these years have been marked by an initial catching-up of total fertility rates after marked declines in previous decades. Furthermore, after peaking in 2008, total fertility rates declined substantially, fueling concerns about demographic, economic and fiscal implications.

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Family benefits
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Japan wants 85% of male workers to take paternity leave. But fathers are too afraid to take it

Submitted by pmassetti on Mon, 03/27/2023 - 15:26

cnn.com (27.03.2023) Japanese authorities have widely promoted the term in the past decade to combat the country’s notoriously long working hours that have not only deprived workaholic fathers of family time and stay-home mothers of careers, but have helped drive the birth rate to one of the lowest in the world. To seize the “last chance to reverse” the situation, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week unveiled a raft of policies, including boosts to child support and a pledge to lift the number of male workers taking paternity leave from the current 14% to 50% by 2025, and 85% by 2030.

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japan
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Family benefits

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Korea to take drastic measures to tackle population decline

Submitted by pmassetti on Mon, 01/09/2023 - 16:09

koreatimes.co.kr (08.01.2023) The government will take drastic measures to tackle Korea's demographic crisis of its falling birthrate and rapidly aging society, said Na Kyung-won, head of the presidential committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, who floated the idea of writing off loans for married couples who give birth to children.

Regions / Country
korea, Republic of
Global challenges
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Family benefits
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The impact of using an income supplement to meet child poverty targets : evidence from Scotland

Submitted by pmassetti on Tue, 01/03/2023 - 18:02

strathprints.strath.ac.uk (2022) In 2017 the Scottish Government passed the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act with the commitment to significantly reduce the relative child poverty rate from the current prevailing level of around 25% to 10% by 2030/31. In response, the government introduced the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) that provides a direct transfer to households at a fixed rate per eligible child – currently £25 per week. In this paper we explore, using a micro to macro modelling approach, the effectiveness of using the SCP to achieve the Scottish child poverty targets.

Regions / Country
united kingdom
Global challenges
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Family benefits
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The Evolution of Maternity and Paternity Leave Policies over Five Decades — a Global Analysis

Submitted by pmassetti on Mon, 12/19/2022 - 16:25

worldbank.org (2022) This research analyzes the evolution of maternity and paternity leave across the world, covering 190 countries over 52 years. The data show striking differences both within and between countries in how leave distribution for parents upon the birth of a child has evolved. The study finds that, across all regions, there have been notable increases in the number of leave days a mother can take.

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Family benefits
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Social protection responses to COVID-19 in MENA: Design, implementation and child-sensitivity

Submitted by pmassetti on Tue, 10/04/2022 - 17:13

ipcig.org (03.10.2022) COVID-19 has affected all countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and groups already vulnerable before the crisis, such as children, have been particularly affected. Social protection can promote children’s well-being and reduce the negative impacts of crises on them, especially if their needs and vulnerabilities are taken into account. Against this background, the IPC-IG and UNICEF MENARO partnered to analyse the social protection responses to COVID-19 in MENA and assess the extent to which they took children’s needs into account.

Regions / Country
Africa
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Family benefits
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New rights to improve work-life balance in the EU enter into application

Submitted by pmassetti on Fri, 08/26/2022 - 15:22

European Commission (02/08/2022)  These new rules  set out minimum standards for paternity, parental and carers' leave and establish additional rights, such as the right to request flexible working arrangements, which will help people develop their careers and family life without having to sacrifice either. These rights, which come in addition to existing maternity leave rights, were achieved under the European Pillar of Social Rights and is a key milestone towards building a Union of Equality.

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european union
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Four revealing graphs on paid family leave

Submitted by pmassetti on Fri, 06/03/2022 - 16:03

worldbank.org (16.05.2022) Having celebrated International Day of Families on May 15, it is now a great opportunity to reflect on the existing frameworks that support working parents at home and at work. Paid family leave has been a main area of reform in the past few years, as a significant number of countries have passed laws providing parents with the right to paid leave to care for their children . For example, Armenia became one of the 114 countries (out of the 190 measured) that introduced paid leave for fathers after its amended Labor Code came into effect in 2021.

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