MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND THE COST OF CHILDCARE IN IRELAND. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 73 SEPTEMBER 2018

Russell, Helen and McGinnity, Frances and Fahey, Éamonn and Kenny, Oona (2018) MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND THE COST OF CHILDCARE IN IRELAND. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 73 SEPTEMBER 2018. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Childcare has become an increasingly salient issue for Irish society as the proportion of women with young children in the workforce has grown over recent decades. International comparisons of the price of formal care for preschool children indicate that Ireland has one of the highest costs as a proportion of household income across the OECD. The costs of childcare are frequently invoked as a barrier to maternal employment, especially for low-income groups and lone parents. However, there are relatively few systematic analyses of the real costs for families or of how these costs influence employment outcomes for mothers. This study draws on information from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Survey to investigate childcare costs for children up to the age of five, with a particular focus on costs at age three before children enter the school system, which is the peak period for participation in non-parental childcare in terms of both the numbers of children and hours of childcare. The GUI is the largest source of nationally representative data on the types and costs of childcare for pre-school children in Ireland.

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