Social Policy Research Unit FINANCIAL INCENTIVES AND MOTHER S EMPLOYMENT: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Transcription

1 Social Policy Research Unit FINANCIAL INCENTIVES AND MOTHER S EMPLOYMENT: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE Jonathan Bradshaw, Naomi Finch, Emese Mayhew Paper for the Foundation in International Studies in Social Security Sigtuna Sweden June SOCIAL POLICY RESEARCH UNIT, UNIVERSITY OF YORK, HESLINGTON, YORK, YO10 5DD, UK Tel: , jrb1@york.ac.uk

2 Introduction Esping Anderson s (1990) work The Three World s of Welfare Capitalism categorized welfare state regimes according to whether state benefits are provided as citizen s rights or not. He measured the quality and nature of the social rights of citizenship by the level of decommodification of the labour force the degree to which individuals or families can uphold a socially acceptable standard of living independent of market participation (Esping- Anderson 1990: 37). The extent that workers can leave the labour market through choice depends on the generosity and universality of social rights. But by equating citizenship with paid work, Esping Anderson s conceptualisation is gender blind. As Shaver and Bradshaw (1995) point out, whilst the concept of de-commodification makes sense for women fully engaged in the labour market, it does not make sense for the majority, notably mothers, who are not. Rather, the concept of de-commodification assumes the male breadwinner family, and that women and mothers outside the labour market are dependent upon the family - upon men and fathers. Feminists have attempted to revise the concept of social citizenship to encompass women, embedding within it the issues of dependence and independence, and typologising welfare states through a gendered lens. Female independence is different to men s, and, in contrast to de-commodification, the social right to earn an independent income can be one such source of autonomy for women. Lister s (1994) concept of defamiliarisation the degree to which individual adults can uphold a socially acceptable standard of living, independently of family relationships, either through paid work or social security provision is useful for the measurement of the extent that the welfare states uphold female social citizenship. But the concept of defamiliarisation cannot be measured in isolation of women s responsibilities as carers within the family and this as a source of women s difference compared to men, which constrains women s social citizenship - i.e. their ability to participate in the labour market. Therefore, the provision of social rights that guarantee equality in the labour market by recognising their difference provoked by care work is the key to women s social citizenship (Kilkey and Bradshaw, 1999). In many countries maternal employment is becoming increasingly important not just for female autonomy but for the economic wellbeing of families; in both couple families and, especially lone parent families the child poverty rates are considerably reduced if mothers are in employment. But relatively little attention has been paid to the financial incentives welfare states employ in order to encourage women and mothers (lone mothers and mothers who are second earners in couple families) to earn an independent income. This is important, especially in relation to the extent that the state supports the costs of child care to replace maternal care when she takes up or takes on more paid work. Shaver and Bradshaw (1995) analysed the extent that welfare states supported wifely labour by measuring the support provided for a dual breadwinner family, in which the mother of young children was in full or part time employment. They found that the tax and benefit system treat the earnings of married women particularly generously in Netherlands and Italy in all other countries the tax benefit system treats the earnings of the wife less generous than the earnings of the husband. Taking account of childcare costs (i.e. the support for mothers), in all countries except Belgium, Luxembourg and France, the net added value of mother s earnings is lower. For example, in the USA, the mother only retains 35 percent of her net earnings after paying for childcare, and in Ireland, Netherlands and Spain and the UK, the costs of going to work offset over a third of the net earnings of a wife if the parents have to

3 pay for childcare, acting as a disincentive to taking up paid work. Whilst this paper is useful in the sense that it compares the extent that welfare states facilitate access to an independent income by making work financial viable, it is rather out of date and does not analyse how financial incentives employed by welfare states might be influencing mothers behaviour. Economists tend to hold to the view that employees respond to financial incentives. Or rather perhaps, that there is a trade-off between work and leisure and that the financial rewards from working are likely to shift the indifference curve in favour of work. Further if the financial rewards in exchange for working, or working more, are limited or non-existent then people will not work or work more. Unemployment compensation schemes are thought to have a negative affect on the unemployed worker s behaviour and the incidence and duration of unemployment. This is because (the level of) unemployment benefits affect the so called reservation wage (the wage below which the worker would not be willing to accept a job offer). The higher the benefit replacement rate (i.e. the proportion of in-work income, replaced by out of work income), the lower the opportunity cost of remaining unemployed. Therefore, the worker s probability of exiting unemployment is reduced. Financial incentives to work and to work more are a preoccupation of policy makers, particularly perhaps in the Anglophone countries. There is considerable anxiety in these countries that high replacement rates produce an unemployment trap. Since 1996 there has been a general policy trend to discourage welfare dependency and to encourage movement into work - by making work pay. If economic theory is correct, the variation in mother s employment rates can be related to variation in financial incentives. Kilkey and Bradshaw (1999) and (2001) adopted the concept of defamiliarisation in an attempt to conduct ore gender sensitive analysis of welfare state variation. Kilkey and Bradshaw (1999) assumed that welfare states can not claim to provide women s social rights to uphold a socially acceptable standard of living independently of men if they do not facilitate lone mothers capacity to live independently of men, out of poverty, and if they force lone mothers to chose between paid work or full time care to avoid poverty. They focused on lone mothers to investigate this, since their treatment represents how welfare states construct the relationship between paid work and caring and the degree to which welfare states enable women to live independently of men. To test the degree to which welfare states enable women to live independently of the family (men), they investigated the extent that financial incentives encourage mothers to enter employment. To do this they compared replacement rates and marginal tax rates between welfare states and related them to employment rates. They found that Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden had a particularly high replacement rate and therefore low financial incentives for lone mothers to enter employment, whilst the financial incentive was higher in France, Ireland, Austria and the UK, where the replacement rates were less than 60 percent. They also investigated that marginal tax rate, which is the poverty trap, faced by lone parents in employment which may impact incentives to work more hours or earn more. By increasing earnings from half average to average, lone parents in Luxembourg and Portugal more than double their net disposable income and therefore have negative marginal tax rates. In Finland, lone mothers had the least financial incentive to double their earnings, increasing her net disposable income by only 37 percent. Accounting for childcare increases the marginal tax rates in the UK from 33 to 49 percent and is also very high in Finland, Netherlands, and Italy. Lone mothers in Ireland needing childcare would actually be slightly worse off through doubling their earnings. But Kilkey and Bradshaw (1999) found little association between lone mothers replacement rates and their labour supply rates, and 3

4 concluded that other factors have an impact on labour-supply behaviour apart from purely financial incentives. In their later paper, which investigated the factors designed to push and pull lone mothers into employment in six countries, Kilkey and Bradshaw (2001) concluded, unsurprisingly, that the higher the lone parent s potential earnings the more heavily skewed the structure of financial incentives in favour of paid work. When childcare costs are accounted for, the balance of financial incentives shifts more in favour of not working across all countries, although to different degrees depending on the country. Again, they found little relationship between financial incentives to work and the lone parent employment rate, even when examined dynamically. So the comparative literature that examines financial incentives and their relationship with employment rate has suggested that caution is needed in assuming that financial incentives will affect mothers employment rates. We aim to build upon and update this work and provide a more comprehensive analysis of the relationship between mothers labour supply and financial incentives (replacement rates and average marginal tax rates) does state support in the form of financial incentives actually translate into mothers earnings an independent income? We shall start with a comparison of mothers labour supply. 4

5 Mothers labour supply Over the last few decades, the employment rates of mothers have increased but much crossnational variation still exists. In contrast, fathers employment rates vary to a much smaller degree. Mothers are also still less likely to be employed, and more likely to be employed part time than fathers, especially when the child is young (Gornick, 1999). Table 1 gives the individual employment status of married/cohabiting mothers and lone mothers 1. The employment rate for mothers in couples is highest in Norway (81 per cent) and lowest in Ireland (42 per cent). The UK has the second highest employment rates: 68 per cent. For lone mothers, the employment rate is highest in Portugal (88 per cent) and Japan (83 per cent) 2 and lowest in the Netherlands (42 per cent) and the Anglophone countries. Variation also exists according to the age of the youngest dependent child, as well as the number of hours worked, although comparable data is hard to come by. In some countries, such as Finland and Portugal, married/cohabiting mothers work for relatively long hours, whereas in the USA and UK, they work for relatively short hours. Lone mothers work for relatively short hours in the UK and USA and relatively long hours in Finland and Luxembourg. 1 An important issue is how those on maternity and parental leave are treated within employment data, i.e. whether they are treated as employed. This is a difficult question to answer and will inevitably be different for each country but it is a problem that should be taken into account when interpreting the employment data. 2 In both these cases high proportions of lone mothers live in three-generation families and this might explain their high participation rates. 5

6 Table 1 Employment status of married/cohabiting mothers and lone mothers of dependent children (%) Child under 19 years Married/ cohabiting Lone mothers Employed mothers Employed Australia Austria (1999) Belgium (1997) Canada (1996). 51 Denmark (1995).. 73 Finland 2 67 (1996) 65 (1998) France 3 (2001) Germany Greece (1996).. 75 Ireland (1999) Israel (1999) 46.. Italy (1998).. 65 Japan 3 (1999) Luxembourg Netherlands 5 (1997) New Zealand (2001) Norway (1999) Portugal (1996) Spain (1991).. 68 Sweden (1998).. 68 UK (2001) USA Italics =obtained from source other than national informant 1 Mothers with children under 15 2 Lone parents 3 Children under 18 4 All married mothers and all lone mothers 5 Employed = those working 12 hours or more a week 6 Married women only Source: Bradshaw and Finch 2002 In order to understand the impact of replacement rates on mothers, it is important to look at mothers unemployment rates, and to do so in the context of that of the general population. Table 2 shows the unemployment rate for the general population over 16, for the female population over 16, for mothers in couples and for lone mothers. The ILO definition of unemployed 3 has been used unless otherwise stated 4. The ILO female unemployment rate is significantly higher than that of the general population in the Southern European countries; Greece, Italy and Spain. Married/cohabiting mothers in the Netherlands and the UK are significantly more likely to be unemployed than females in the general population. This indicates that in these countries mothers find it difficult to find a suitable job, although in the case of the UK, those registered as unemployed are able to work below sixteen hours. The proportion of unemployed lone mothers ranges from two per cent in Ireland and three per cent in the UK to 19 per cent in France and 20 per cent in Germany. Italy and Spain are the 3 The unemployed are those aged 16 or over without paid jobs who are available to work in the next two weeks, and who either had looked for work in the last 4 weeks, or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained. 4 Care must be taken when analysing the data since dates are not always consistent. Also, the unemployment figures relate to those registered as unemployed and will therefore be influenced by the eligibility conditions of the benefit system in each country. 6

7 only two countries in our study (and for which data is available) with a lone mother employment rate that is significantly lower than the female unemployment rate. This suggests that in these countries rather than looking for paid work, relatively high proportions of mothers are staying at home to look after children. Table 2 Percentages of ILO unemployed Percentage of ILO unemployed % over 16 % of females over 16 % of Married/cohabiting mothers 5 % of lone mothers Australia 1 7 (2001) 7 (2001) 13 Austria (1999) Belgium Canada (1996) (1996) Denmark Finland France (2001) Germany (1997) 20 (1997) Greece (1999) Ireland (1999) 2 (1999) Israel (1998) (1998) (1999) Italy (1998) Japan 2 (2001) Luxembourg 2 (2001) 3 (2001) 3 7 Netherlands (1999) New Zealand (2001) Norway (1999) Portugal Spain Sweden UK 5 (2001) 4 (2001) 8 3 USA 5 (2001) 5 (2001) = data not available 1 Age 15 and over. 2 Not ILO definition. 3 Married mothers only. Source: Bradshaw and Finch 2002 This chapter studies the financial incentives for maternal employment, drawing on data derived from a recent study of tax and benefit policies in 22 countries (Bradshaw and Finch 2002). The model family method makes it possible to calculate average marginal tax rates 7

8 and notional replacement rates and thus the financial incentive structures facing families in different countries. Average marginal tax rates Average marginal tax rates are estimates of the proportion of extra earnings that would be foregone in extra direct taxes, loss of income related benefits and extra charges. It is an indication of the financial incentives facing a mother. So for example if a mother increased her earnings from half national average earnings to national average earnings what would be the effect on her family s net disposable income? The marginal tax rates calculated here are average in the sense that they are the average over that range of increased earnings. For any extra earned they may be higher or lower. We use the phrase marginal tax rate despite the fact that not all of the impact on net incomes is the result of taxation it includes extra charges for services and the loss of benefits. Average marginal tax rates are estimated according to the following formula ((100-((earnings A - earnings)/(net income A net income B)*100)), where B is a lower earnings level than A. In Table 3 we start by considering the case of a lone mother who moves from half average female earnings to average female earnings by increasing her hours or getting a better job. The average marginal tax rate varies according to whether childcare is involved and whether the estimate is before services and housing costs. We see that there are considerable variations in average marginal tax rates between countries. After taxes, benefits, services and housing costs are taken into account the lone mother has an average marginal tax rate of 142 per cent in Israel when childcare costs are taken into account and 119 per cent if they are not. This means that in Israel this lone mother would be considerably worse off as a result of doubling her earnings. The average marginal tax rates are also very high in the USA, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK - all countries with a strong element of targeting in their tax benefit packages. In contrast the average marginal tax rate in Luxembourg and Spain is very low. In most countries the average marginal tax rates, after taxes, benefits, housing costs and services, are higher for the lone mother needing childcare France and Spain are exceptions. 8

9 Table 3 Marginal tax rates for a lone parent with one child: percentage of extra earnings foregone in taxes and lost benefits in moving from one earnings level to another. After taxes and benefits After taxes, benefits, housing costs and services Moving from half average female earnings to average female earnings Plus childcare No childcare Plus childcare No childcare Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden UK USA Table 4 takes a couple with two children and first shows the marginal tax rate in one earner moving from half average male earnings to average male earnings as the baseline. Before housing costs and services the average marginal tax rates vary from 13 per cent in Japan and 14 per cent in Spain to 78 per cent in the USA and 59 per cent in Australia. After housing costs and services they increase in most countries. In the USA for this family the marginal tax rate is 130 per cent. Average marginal tax rates are also very high in Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands and Austria and again low in Japan and Spain. The marginal tax rates on the earnings of a mother starting to work and earning half national average female earnings are also shown in the table. In countries where second earners benefit from a tax relief or allowance the marginal tax rates are lower than in the previous case. The marginal tax rates are very low in Finland, Sweden and Israel, and thus the financial incentives to work longer hours or to increase earnings is relatively high in these countries for this mother. Belgium, Denmark and Germany are countries with high marginal tax rates on second earners, and thus provide low financial incentives in this case. At this level of earnings in most countries we move beyond the scope of housing benefits and income related reductions in charges for services and the after housing and services marginal tax rates do not vary much. Finland and Sweden are exceptions as a result of their local taxation being income related. 9

10 Finally the table shows the impact of a mother in a couple doubling her earnings from half average female to average female as a result of working longer hours or earning more for the same hours. After taxes, benefits, housing costs and services the average marginal tax rate varies from 21 per cent in Spain to 58 per cent in Belgium. For most countries there is little difference between the average marginal tax rate before and after housing and services because at this earnings level they are beyond the scope of income related benefits. Table 4 Marginal tax rates for couple+2 children: percentage of extra earnings foregone in taxes and lost benefits in moving from one earnings level to another. After taxes and benefits One earner on half male ave. to male ave earnings One earner male ave. to two earners male ave. +female half ave. earnings Two earners ave. male+half ave. female to ave. male and ave. female After taxes, benefits, housing costs and services One earner Two earners male ave. to One on half ave. two earners male ave. to male+half male ave. male ave ave. female to +female earnings ave. male and half ave. ave. female earnings Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden UK USA Table 5 shows the impact of a mother joining the labour market if childcare is involved by comparing the marginal tax rates between a one earner average earnings couple with no paid childcare and when a mother earns half average female earnings but has to pay for childcare. In all countries except Spain the marginal tax rates are much larger when childcare is involved. There is no benefit in the mother entering employment in Ireland, the Netherlands and the USA if formal childcare needs to be paid for. However the marginal tax rate is relatively low in Sweden, Finland and Austria. 10

11 Table 5 Marginal tax rates impact of a mother in a couple starting work. Impact of childcare after taxes, benefits and services One earner ave. male earnings to two earners ave. male and half ave. female earnings Childcare needed No childcare needed Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland 26-1 France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden 32 6 UK USA It appears that the countries which are most anxious about the impact of work incentives on labour supply have comparatively high marginal tax rates at the lower end of the earnings distribution. This is because they rely more than other countries on income related benefits and tax credits which are withdrawn as earnings increase. The loss of childcare benefits is a particular cause of high marginal tax rates for lone mothers. But do marginal tax rates actually influence mothers decision to earn more/work longer hours? What evidence is there that these marginal tax rates are associated with variations in labour supply at this macro level? We explore this in the following charts. Chart 1 plots the average marginal tax rate for a standard family against the proportion of married women working. There is a weak positive relationship - the higher the marginal tax rates for mothers working part time, the more married mothers are working. Chart 2 also shows, if anything, a weak positive relationship between marginal tax rates for mothers working full time and the proportion of mothers working full time. These results run counter to expectations derived from economic theory. However there is support for economic theory in Chart 3 where we find there is a weak negative relationship between marginal tax rates and lone mothers working and in Chart 4 where we find there is a weak relationship between marginal tax rates of lone mothers needing childcare and the proportion of lone mothers working full-time (over 30 hours). 11

12 Chart 1: Average marginal tax rate for a mother working part time by the proportion of mothers employed 60 Average marginal tax rate for mother working part time Ireland Netherlands Japan Luxembourg Israel 50 Portugal Australia Austria USA New Zealand Finland 60 Germany Belgium France UK 70 Norw ay % mothers employed 12

13 Chart 2: Average marginal tax rate for mothers working full time by the proportion of mothers working full time 60 Belgium Average marginal tax rate for mothers working full time Germany Australia Luxembourg USA Norw ay UK Israel Ireland New Zealand France Portugal Finland % mothers working full time 13

14 Chart 3: Average marginal tax rate for a lone mother by the proportion of lone parents employed Average marginal tax rate for lone mothers 100 Ireland New Australia ZealandUK Netherlands Canada 20 Belgium USA Germany Denmark Finland Greece Sweden Austria Italy Japan France Norway Portugal Luxembourg Spain % lone parents employed 14

15 Chart 4: Average marginal tax rate for a lone mother needing childcare by the proportion of lone mothers employed more than 30 hours Marginal tax rate for lone mothers needing childcare USA Ireland New Zealand Australia UK Belgium Germany Finland Norw ay France Luxembourg Portugal % lone mothers employed 30+ Replacement rates In contrast, the notional replacement rate is an indication of the financial incentives facing a lone mother deciding whether to enter work or whether to stay in work. In this study the replacement rate is estimated by expressing the income that a lone mother would receive on social assistance as a proportion of the income they would receive in employment at a given wage. Thus, it shows how much of the net disposable income in work is replaced by social assistance. It is notional in two senses. First the calculation is based on a given level of earnings, which may not be the actual earnings that a lone mother would or could receive. Second it is assumed that the source of income that would be doing the replacing is social assistance, whereas in some countries it might be insurance based unemployment benefits which are generally higher than social assistance or some other special benefit for lone parents. So it is the minimum notional replacement rate that we are showing here. Notional replacement rates are estimated by the following formula (Net income on social assistance/net income while earning*100). Table 6 presents replacement rates for the couple families 5. It can be seen that the notional replacement rates are very high in some countries. In Denmark a one child family on social assistance would be 52 per cent better off than a one earner couple on this earnings. Replacement rates are also over 100 per cent in Norway and very high in Austria, Italy, Japan, 5 The Greek data is virtually meaningless (and has been excluded) because Greece does not have an effective social assistance scheme. 15

16 Luxembourg and Portugal. The USA, Spain, the UK and Germany have comparatively low replacement rates. In many countries replacement rates increase with the number of children in the family. This is because the implied equivalence in social assistance tends to be more generous to large families than the implied equivalence in the child benefit package for families with an earner. After housing and services, replacement rates tend to increase even more. For the families with school aged children - because housing and education costs and health charges are lower or exempted for families on social assistance. Now there are nine countries with notional replacement rates for a three-child family in excess of 100 per cent. The replacement rates in Spain and the USA are markedly lower than in any other country. Table 6 Replacement rates for couples one earner on half average earnings After taxes and benefits After taxes, benefits, housing costs and services Net social assistance as % of net incomes of one earner on half ave. earnings Net social assistance as % of net incomes of one earner on half ave. earnings Couple + 1 Couple + 2 Couple + 3 Couple + 1 Couple + 2 Couple + 3 Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden UK USA Table 7 presents notional replacement rates for a lone mothers earning half national average female earnings. The replacement rates for the lone mothers with one child are high in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Norway. They are relatively low in the USA, the UK before housing costs and services and thus the financial incentive for mothers to enter paid work in these countries is higher. After housing costs and services, Germany also has very high replacement rates. The contrast between the lone mothers needing childcare and one not needing childcare is a measure of the impact of 16

17 childcare costs on replacement rates 6. Childcare costs increase the replacement rates in almost all countries and substantially in Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Norway. Only in Finland, the Netherlands, Italy and Japan do childcare costs have little or no impact on replacement rates. There are eight countries where as a result of childcare costs the lone parent has no financial incentive for entering employment. Table 7 earnings Replacement rates for lone parents with one child on half average female After taxes and benefits Net social assistance as % of net incomes of one earner on half ave. female earnings Needing childcare Not needing childcare After taxes, benefits, housing costs and services Net social assistance as % of net incomes of one earner on half ave. female earnings Needing childcare Not needing childcare Australia Austria Belgium Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Spain Sweden UK USA It is clear from this analysis that some countries have very high replacement rates but it is the case that they do not tend to be the countries that are most anxious about incentives to work. It can be seen in Table 6 that Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada have comparatively low replacement rates for couples. They are higher for lone parents who need childcare in Canada, Ireland New Zealand. However, countries like Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Japan are managing with very high replacement rates. 6 Spain s replacement rate is negative for a lone parent with a child under three, which is virtually impossible to interpret and has therefore been excluded. 17

18 What evidence is there at a macro level that replacement rates are associated with variations in labour supply. Do replacement rates influence the extent to which mothers can earn an independent income? Chart 4 plots the relationship between overall unemployment and the average replacement rate. The relationship if any is the opposite of that expected by economic theory countries with high replacement rates have the lowest unemployment. Chart 5 plots the same for unemployment among married/cohabiting mothers, now there is a weak positive relationship with Norway and the USA as outliers. Chart 6 examines the relationship between the replacement rate and the percentage of married women employed if anything there is a weak negative relationship, that is those countries with higher replacement rates have fewer married women employed with Norway and USA outliers. Finally in Chart 7 we examine the relationship between the replacement rate for lone mothers and the proportion of lone mothers employed and observe a weak negative relationship the higher the replacement rate the fewer lone parents are in employment. We conclude from this that there is some support for economic theory about the relationship between labour supply and replacement rates but it is mixed, weak and there are outliers. Chart 4: Average replacement rate by the proportion of the population of 16 who are ILO unemployed Norway Denmark Average replacement rate Israel Portugal Japan Netherlands Austria Sweden Finland Germany Luxembourg Ireland New Zealand UK Australia France Belgium Canada USA Italy 20 Spain % of over 16 ILO unemployed 18

19 Chart 5: Average replacement rate by the proportion of married/cohabiting mothers who are ILO unemployed 1 Norway 120 Israel Average replacement rate Germany Austria Finland Luxembourg Ireland Australia UK Belgium Canada France Netherlands USA % married/cohabiting mothers ILO unemployed 19

20 Chart 6: Average replacement rate by the proportion of married mothers who are employed 1 Norway 120 Israel Average replacement rate Japan Netherlands Luxembourg Ireland Portugal Austria Finland Germany Australia New Zealand France UK Belgium USA % of married mothers employed 20

21 Chart 7: Average replacement rate by the proportion of Lone mothers who are employed Net NZ Can Ire UK Bel Ger Nor Swe Fin Fra Den Aus Lux Jap Por Average replacement rate Oz Ita USA Spa 70 Gre % Lone mothers employed Work tests for lone parents In addition to financial incentives (pull factors) to work, policy can be used to encourage (push), or at least not discourage, re-insertion into paid employment through the implementation of a work test. This usually requires recipients to register as unemployed and to establish in various ways that they are actively looking for work. Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the USA have all introduced or tightened work tests since The UK has introduced work-focused interviews for lone parents. Table 8 shows whether a work test operates for lone parents in each country and, if so, whether this is dependent on the age of the youngest child. It also gives the employment rate of lone mothers. 21

22 Table 8 Work test for lone mothers and employment rate for lone mothers with dependent children Country Work test for lone parents? Dependent on age of child? If yes, what is the age of the child? % of lone mothers with dependent children who are employed Australia No but about to Children under 15: 46 begin - - Austria yes (subject to yes childcare) about 3 80 (1999) Belgium 1 yes discretion - 59 (1997) Canada 2 yes yes 6 51 (1996) Denmark no (subject to yes childcare) - 73 (1995) Finland yes yes 4 65 (1998) France 3 no Children under 18: (2001) Germany Children under 18: 67 yes yes 3 Greece no (1996) Ireland no (1999) Israel yes yes 7 N/a Italy 4 yes yes 3 65 (1998) Japan 5 discretion no - Children under 20: 83 (1999) Luxembourg yes yes 6 82 Netherlands 6 yes yes 5 42 (1997) New Zealand 7 no (2001) Norway yes yes 3 68 (1999) Portugal 8 no (1996) Spain 9 no (1991) Sweden yes no - 68 (1998) UK no USA yes yes 1 68 Italics=Data not provided by national informants. Figures obtained from other sources. 1 All social assistance beneficiaries, are in principle required to be looking for work and to be ready to take up employment; however, in the case of single parents, especially those with young children, this requirement is probably not always enforced very strongly. 2 Work test requirement for Ontario; employment figure for Canada. No work test for lone mothers until 1995 and toughened to apply to mothers with children under 6 in NB: employment figure for RMI recipients have to sign a contract that very often consists in an engagement to participate to actions in order to enhance one's employability or to reintegrate the labour market, but it may instead refer to engagement related to social rights, to medical visits, to the search for a housing, to the search for a place in child care, etc. 4 Social Assistance scheme: RMI, in test phase and not yet implemented nation wide. 5 Social caseworkers discretions are the most important aspects in the Japanese social assistance system. It is highly unlikely that those in working age can receive benefit, if not impossible in law. Officers (social case workers) visit all those receiving benefits on a regular basis, and suggest (help or order) them to work. 6 Work test introduced for lone mothers in NB. Employment figure for Those with a youngest child under 6 having an interview to discuss current and future barriers to work and those with a youngest child between 6-14 having a mandatory work test for part time work and those with youngest child 14+ having a full time work test. The work test was due to be abolished in 2001 but was not passed due to an error. It is expected to be abolished in For those who are beneficiaries of the Guaranteed Minimum Income (RMG), there is an integration programme. This programme is composed by different actions related to education, housing, health, training etc.); these actions, and the integration programme as a whole result form an agreement between the social services and the beneficiaries. Those recipients of the Guaranteed Minimum Income who do not accomplish what was established in the integration programme lose the right to the economic benefit paid by RMG. 9 Madrid region (activity rates). In Spain, the social assistance eligibility varies between regions. We have used Madrid as the reference. According to the current regulatory frame of Madrid IMI a lone parent, in order to receive social assistance, has to commit oneself to develop the integration activities established by the Centre for Social Services. However, the required reintegration activities are a condition very ambiguously defined by the law and scarcely applied in the daily practice. 22

23 One must take care in relating the operation of a work test to employment rates for three reasons. First, the implementation of a work test is merely one of many factors influencing the lone mother employment rate including financial incentives (see above), labour demand, availability of childcare etc. Also, it is impossible to know whether women on maternity or parental leave are included (or excluded) from the rates used for each country in this study. On the one hand, including them may overestimate the employment rates if the mother is not intending to return to work after the leave period is finished but excluding them may underestimate the proportion of women in employment, especially if they are expecting to return to work after the leave period. Second, in our study some of the employment figures are relatively old and sufficient time has not passed since the implementation of a work test in order for a measurable effect to have taken place. For example, in Canada (Ontario) the 'work test' was toughened to apply to mothers with children under six in 1996, more or less simultaneously with the collection of the census data. So, if there were a cause and effect, it would have had time to have any impact. Likewise, in the Netherlands, a work test did not come into operation for lone parents until 1996 and the employment figures are for Of the 22 countries in our study, seven do not operate a work test for lone mothers with dependent children, of which three (Australia 7, New Zealand and the UK 8 ) have one of the five lowest lone mother employment rates. Certain countries have different interpretations about how much they should force lone mothers to actively seek work. For example, in Spain, France and Portugal, whilst they do not have a work test per se, they do have insertion measures which must be fulfilled in order to receive social assistance. These may or may not be directly related to training or labour market insertion. In our study Portugal also has the highest lone mother employment rate (88 per cent). In other countries, a work test may be stipulated by law but not put into practice. Belgium and Japan operate a work test but whether this is actually applied to lone parents varies. In Belgium, this requirement is probably not always enforced very strongly for single parents, especially those with young children. On the contrary, in Japan, there is no special treatment for lone parents and a strict work test operates for those of working age. Social work officers play a large part in its implementation by visiting individual recipients and suggest them to work where appropriate. The differing emphasis on the importance of a work test in these two countries (a tendency towards leniency in Belgium and relative severity in Japan) could perhaps explain the comparatively low proportion of lone mothers in employment in Belgium (60 per cent) and the high proportion in employment (83 per cent) in Japan. Of the 13 remaining countries that do operate a work test for lone parents, the majority only apply the test when the youngest child reaches a certain age. In Canada and the Netherlands the work test is not applied to lone mothers whose youngest child is below statutory school age, whilst in Israel and Luxembourg the work test is not applied until the youngest child has been in school for two years. In Germany and Austria the work test is not operated until a childcare place is guaranteed for the youngest child - age three in both countries. In Germany the work test for lone mothers is very moderate and aims at part-time work rather than fulltime. Italy enforces a work test for lone mothers whose youngest child is eligible to attend a state school nursery (age three) but a place for the child is not guaranteed. In Finland, Norway and the USA, the operation of a work test is dependent upon the age of the youngest 7 Australia is about to implement work-related requirements for sole parents 8 The UK has a work-focused interview for lone parents, which if they do not attend may result in benefit penalties. 23

24 child but the age does not relate to the statutory school age or childcare arrangements. In Finland, parents with children aged one to three can select the child home allowance option. This makes it financially possible for one of the parents to stay at home with the children, during which there is no work test. In Norway, lone parents are expected to work when the child is three. In the USA, TANF imposes work tests on all parents, the majority of whom are single mothers. In the USA lone mothers are expected to work for their benefits when their child reaches three months of age, though there is considerable state variation up to a maximum of one year. The work test is applied only if childcare is available. Two countries (Denmark and Sweden) operate a work test regardless of the age of the youngest child. However, in Denmark the work test is only applied if childcare is available. Of those who do not already have a work test, only Ireland and the UK do not currently have plans to introduce one. Moreover, some countries already with work tests for lone mothers intend to increase their severity (Belgium, the Netherlands and Israel). Whilst Spain, France and Portugal have insertion measures, they do not have work test per se and no plans are currently in place to implement one. France does plan, however, to extend its 100 per cent earnings disregard up to six months for all social assistance schemes, including API (the French social assistance scheme for lone mothers), presumably to encourage work reinsertion. Likewise, Australia will allow people on income support to keep more of their income support payment while working through the introduction of a working credit. New Zealand stands alone in its social assistance policy: in 2001, it abolished its work test for partners and abolished its work test for lone mothers on the Domestic Purposes and Widow Benefits (DPB) in This gives lone mothers more flexibility to move into work. The age of the youngest child in a family no longer determines the requirement to work and the number of hours required of a beneficiary. Instead each beneficiary will be required to plan for their future with a case manager. The changes are designed to recognise family responsibilities and individual circumstances. Whilst Denmark, is also expected to relax its activation policy for certain groups, this is not likely to affect (single) mothers. 24

25 Conclusion As with (un)employment rates, there are huge variations in marginal tax rates and replacement rates in the 22 countries studied. Countries with low marginal tax rates tend to have high replacement rates and vice versa. The Anglophone countries that perhaps make most fuss about the impact of financial incentives on labour supply have the highest financial incentives to enter or stay in work (low replacement rates), and therefore appear to facilitate mothers ability to earn an independent income. However, these countries generally have low incentives for a mother working and earning or earning more (high marginal tax rates). Therefore, whilst facilitating mothers employment, these countries do not encourage mothers ability to work longer hours or earn an income that is necessarily high enough to live independently. However, whether financial incentives translate into higher employment rates for mothers and actually enable mothers to access an independent wage - is a different matter. Our analysis has found similar results to previous comparative work on the association between financial incentives and mothers labour supply: Neither marginal tax rates nor replacement rates seem to be strongly related to mothers labour supply behaviour at this macro comparative level. Where the relationship is what we might expect from economic theory, it is generally very weak with outlying countries that buck the trend. These relationships may be being mediated by push factors and the variation in the regulation of labour supply. Certainly there is considerable variation between countries in their expectations about whether lone mothers should be actively engaged in the labour market (and in the extent to which these regulations are actually implemented in practice). But making work pay policies do not exist in a vacuum and changes in the tax/benefit system need to be analysed alongside other policy changes such as childcare and family friendly employment practices, labour market legislation such as the minimum wage and parttime working and also the nature of labour demand. Other issues that affect the rate of employment amongst mothers include the role of mothers as main carer, and the impact this has upon the desirability and accessibility of paid work. For example the preferences of mothers between career and caring (Hakim, 2000); gender inequity in unpaid work; and family policy that support maternal employment (Gornick, 1999). Perhaps differences in these between welfare states may provide more plausible explanations of mothers labour supply, and the extent that mothers are willing/able to access paid and earn an income independent of men. 25

26 REFERENCES Bradshaw, J. and Finch, N. (2002) A comparison of child benefit packages in 22 countries, DWP Research Report No. 174, CDS Leeds. Esping-Anderson, G (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge Gornick, J (1999) Gender equality and the labour market in D. Sainsbury (ed.) Gender and Welfare State Regimes, Oxford, Oxford University Press Hakim, C. Work-lifestyle choices in the 21st century preference theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford Kilkey, M., and Bradshaw, J. (1999) Lone mothers, Economic Well-being and Policies in Sainsbury, D (ed.) Gender and Welfare State Regimes Oxford University Press, Oxford Kilkey, M., and Bradshaw, J. (2001) Making work pay policies for lone parents in Millar, J and Rowlingson, K (eds.) Lone parents, employment and social policy: Cross-national comparisons The Policy Press, Bristol Shaver, S., and Bradshaw, J. (1995) The recognition of Wifely Labour by Welfare States, Social Policy and Administration vol. 29, no. 1 26