Migrant-native differentials in the uptake of (in)formal childcare in Belgium: The role of mothers’ employment opportunities and care availability

Abstract

Objective: we explore migrant-native differentials in the uptake of formal and informal childcare and whether this is induced by lower demand for childcare versus differential access to (in)formal childcare compared to natives.
 Background: The rise in female labour market participation in recent decades has challenged parents to negotiate work and family responsibilities and organise childcare. Belgium is among the European countries with the highest availability of formal childcare, but maternal employment and uptake of childcare are substantially lower in migrant populations.
 Methods: Combining linked microdata from the 1991 and 2001 censuses with contextual data on childcare availability at the municipality level, we use multinomial logit models to study childcare use and type of childcare arrangement among parents having a young child in 2001. As access to childcare and maternal employment are mutually endogenous, we use estimated employment opportunities.
 Results: We find considerable migrant-native differentials in childcare use, as well as substantial differences between first and second generation migrants. Second generation mothers of Turkish, Moroccan and Eastern-European background are less likely than natives to use childcare, and more likely to rely on informal arrangements if childcare is used. Controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and differential availability of (in)formal childcare largely accounts for differences in childcare use, but Turkish and Moroccan women remain less likely to use care and first generation Turkish mothers remain more likely to use informal care as opposed to formal childcare.
 Conclusions: While differences in socio-demographic characteristics, labour market opportunities and availability of (in)formal care provide a partial explanation, partial migrant-native differentials in childcare use persist for specific groups, suggesting that other factors inhibit the uptake of formal childcare.

Mothers and Parental Leave in Belgium: Social Inequalities in Eligibility and Uptake

“…Furthermore, as many people find themselves at an intersection of disadvantaged positions (e.g., having a first-generation migration background and being low educated), the observed gradients in eligibility for parental leave are likely to work cumulatively and lead to the structural exclusion of a group of parents that is disadvantaged in multiple respects (Mussino & Duvander, 2016). This is especially problematic as available research shows that these groups also experience more difficulties in accessing other social policies that foster work-family reconciliation, such as subsidised formal childcare (Biegel et al, 2021;Vande Gaer, Gijselinckx, & Hedebouw, 2013) or subsidised outsourcing of household chores (Marx & Vandelannoote, 2015), leading to the near exclusion of these households from the entire work-family reconciliation policy package.…”

“…It should be noted that to date, parental leave is-at least in Belgium-often not the single or main ingredient in parents' reconciliation strategies as it is limited in time and often deployed in a flexible manner (i.e., part-time). It is, however, exemplary of broader challenges concerning inclusiveness when access to social policies is conditioned in terms of employment positions (Biegel et al, 2021). Complementary to Esping-Andersen's concepts of decommodification and 'politics against markets,' social policies in contemporary welfare states increasingly display aspects of re-commodification by targeting labour market integration, in particular by stimulating female employment and work-family reconciliation (Cantillon & Van Lancker, 2013;Iversen & Soskice, 2015;Morel, 2007).…”

“…Both logit models include all control variables. To compare socio-economic differentials in leave uptake between models I and II (Mood, 2009), we calculate predicted probabilities in leave uptake across models assuming an average profile in terms of the other covariates included in the model, and report predicted probabilities as deviations from the grand mean of parental leave uptake to facilitate the comparison of gradients across covariates (Figure 3a to 3d; see Biegel, Wood, & Neels, 2021).…”

Improving economic opportunities for all in Belgium

“…Language constitutes an important workreadiness barrier in Belgium and partly explains persistent disparities and imbalances between regions. For people of foreign origin (first and second generation immigrants who account for 32.7% of the population as of January 2021), discrimination likely adds to worker-related barriers (Baert, Heiland and Korenman, 2016 [26]; FPS Employment/UNIA, 2019 [27]). Unequal opportunities in education contribute to the persistence of work readiness barriers, in particular for children of non-EU migrants, who hardly fare better than their parents in terms of employment outcomes (Piton and Rycx, 2021 [28]).…”

Exploring Women’s Uptake of Active Labour Market Programmes: The Role of Household Composition Across Migrant Origin Groups

“…Despite increases in female labour force participation since the second half of the twentieth century, the transition towards gender equality in employment is incomplete. Available research indicates that women's labour market positions are strongly affected by household composition and particularly the presence of young children (Biegel et al, 2021;Brekke, 2013;Gutierrez-Domenech, 2005). Additionally, in the context of increasing diversity (e.g., country of origin and migrant generation), but also large and persistent migrant-native gaps in labour market outcomes, previous research provides evidence of differential interrelations between household composition and women's employment by migration background (Khoudja & Fleischmann, 2015Kil et al, 2018;Rubin et al, 2008;Wood & Neels, 2017).…”