Income Instability and Material Deprivation of Young Families: Does Formal Childcare Availability Foster Families’ Buffering Capacity?

Raffaele Grotti, University of Trento
Davide Gritti, University of Trento
Stefani Scherer , University of Trento

Young families in Europe are increasingly exposed to employment instability with consequences for their risks of material deprivation. When one partner loses income, an increase in the work intensity of the other partner is a critical coping strategy to avoid material deprivation. Such a coping strategy, however, is contingent on the presence and age of children in the family as well as on context-specific institutional aspects, including family policies and especially access to ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) services. Focusing on a large number of European countries, this study combines micro longitudinal data (EU-SILC, longitudinal files) with regional childcare coverage data (own collection) to explore whether and to what extent families of different constellations mange to buffer economic risks via di activation of additional income and how this capacity depends on the levels of formal childcare availability. We show that income fluctuation in fact increase the risk of deprivation and that the extent to which this happens of families’ employment situations. Higher (regional) availability of ECEC is found to increase families’ capacities to buffer the income loss from one partner. This happens mainly through the continuous employment of women (mothers) and only to a minor extent through the activation of additional income in the moment of loss. Keywords: ECEC, deprivation, female employment, activation

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 Presented in Session 88. Money and Inequalities in Families