Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:22:13.164Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Availability, Cost or Culture? Obstacles to Childcare Services for Low-Income Families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

AURÉLIEN ABRASSART  and
GIULIANO BONOLI
AURÉLIEN ABRASSART
Affiliation:
Büro für arbeits- und sozialpolitische Studien BASS AG, Konsumstrasse 20, 3007 Bern, Switzerland email: aurelien.abrassart@buerobass.ch
GIULIANO BONOLI
Affiliation:
IDHEAP - Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland email: giuliano.bonoli@unil.ch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted the existence of a social bias in the extent to which children have access to childcare. In general, children living in higher income households are more likely to be cared for in childcare centres. While the existence of a social bias in access to childcare services has been clearly demonstrated, we currently lack a clear explanation as to why this is the case. This paper uses a unique dataset based on survey data collected specifically to study patterns of childcare use in the Swiss canton of Vaud (N = 875). The paper exploits the variation in the way childcare is organised within the canton. Childcare is a municipal policy, as a result of which there are twenty-nine different systems in operation. Fees are progressive everywhere, but variation is substantial. Availability is also very different. This peculiar institutional setup provides an ideal situation to examine the determinants of childcare use by different income groups. Our findings suggest that differences in the fees charged to low-income households, as well as the degree of progressivity of the fee structure, are significant predictors of use, while availability seems to matter less.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 787 - 806
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bonoli, Giuliano (2013), The Origins of Active Social Policy: Active Labour Market Policy and Childcare in a Comparative Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonoli, Giuliano and Vuille, Sandrine (2013), L’accueil de jour des enfants dans le Canton de Vaud, Lausanne, Fondation pour l’Accueil de Jour de Enfants (FAJE), Research report.Google Scholar
Bonoli, Giuliano, Abrassart, Aurélien and Schlanser, Regula (2010), La politique tarifaire des réseaux d’accueil de jour des enfants dans le Canton de Vaud Lausanne, Fondation pour l’Accueil de Jour de Enfants (FAJE), Research report.Google Scholar
Cantillon, Bea (2011), ‘The paradox of the social investment state: growth, employment and poverty in the Lisbon era’, Journal of European Social Policy, 21: 5: 432–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coneus, Katja, Goeggel, Kathrin and Muehler, Grit (2007), Determinants of Child Care Participation, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 07–074, Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gosta (2009), The Incomplete Revolution: Adapting to Women's New Roles, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Felfe, Christina and Lalive, Rafael (2012), Early Child Care and Child Development: For Whom It Works and Why, IZA Discussion Papers 7100, Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor.Google Scholar
Kamerman, Sheila, Michelle, Neuman, Jane, Waldfogel, and Jeanne, Brooks-Gunn (2003), Social Policies, Family Types and Child Outcomes in Selected OECD Countries, Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 6, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Jensen, B., Holm, A. and Bremberg, S. (2013), ‘Effectiveness of a Danish Early Year Preschool Program: a randomized trial’, International Journal of Educational Research, 62: 115–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leira, A., Tobio, C. and Trifiletti, R. (2003), ‘Kinship and informal support as resources for the first generation of working mothers in Norway, Italy and Spain’, in Gerhard, U., Knijn, T., and Weckwert, A. (eds.), Working Mothers in Europe: A Comparison of Policies and Practices, Cheltenham UK, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Magnuson, K., Ruhm, C. and Waldfogel, J. (2007), ‘Does prekindergarten improve school preparation and performance?’, Economics of Education Review, 26: 1, 33–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naumann, Ingela (2006), ‘Childcare in the West German and Swedish welfare states from the 1950s to the 1970s’, Ph.D. thesis, European University Institute, Florence.Google Scholar
Mood, Carina (2009), ‘Logistic regression: why we cannot do what we think we can do, and what we can do about it’, European Sociological Review, 26: 1, 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Schlanser, Regula (2011), Qui utilise les crèches en Suisse? Logiques sociales du recours aux structures d’accueil collectif pour la petite enfance, Paper No. 264, Lausanne: IDHEAP.Google Scholar
Suardi, Simona (2012), ‘Early childhood education and care: a social investment: evaluation of mid–long term effects on the Italian young’, unpublished MA dissertation, Université catholique de Louvain/Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Brussels/Milan.Google Scholar
Van Lancker, W. and Ghysels, J. (2012), ‘Who benefits? The social distribution of subsidized childcare in Sweden and Flanders’, Acta Sociologica, 55: 2, 125–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Lancker, W. (2013), ‘Putting the child-centered strategy to the test: eviden ce for the EU 27’, European Journal of Social Security, 15 : 1, 4–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar