The Effect of Childcare Use on Gender Equality in European Labor Markets

Abstract

Parenthood necessarily increases the scope of unpaid work in households and tends to depress women’s employment rates relative to men’s. This paper examines the relationship between the use of full-time childcare for children under 3 years of age and employment rates for men and women with one, two, or three or more children under 6 years of age in European households. Panel data from a sample of the (then) twenty-eight European Union member states for the 2005–15 period were analyzed. The results indicate that smaller differences between employment rates of men and women with one, two, or three or more children under 6 years of age are associated with greater use of full-time childcare arrangements for children under the age of 3.