Female labour supply in Italy: the role of parental leave and child care policies

Francesca Carta

No 539, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: Parental leave and child care policies are the two main family-friendly programs adopted in developed countries intended to provide parents with a satisfactory work-family balance. An important goal is to foster the labour supply of mothers, usually the primary caregivers in the family. In Italy female and maternal labour supply are historically low, and the inadequacy of the parental leave and child care systems is often called into question. Based on the features of existing public policies in this area and on the international empirical evidence, we conclude that there is scope to foster quality child care support to further improve female labour supply in Italy. Moreover, increasing the length of paternity leave may help to re-balance the domestic workload among genders and overcome stereotypes.

Keywords: Family Law; Child care; Gender; Female Labour Supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H40 J13 J16 J22 K36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_539_19

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