Survey: Child care leave is risk for woman's return to labour market

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According to a study published on Monday by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy ETLA, it is more difficult for the parents of small children in Finland to combine work and family life than it is for example in Sweden.
     
In Finland the alternatives for parents are either a full-time job or no employment at all. For example, in Sweden and Denmark no such system as the Finnish child home care allowance exists. Instead, the parents' working hours are flexible.
      According to the researchers, long child care leaves are a risk for Finnish women. Not all women with high education get a job that corresponds to their education when they return to the labour market after several years of leaves.
      The survey indicates that women do nine hours more household chores per week than men, while the total daily working time of both men and women is alarmingly long.
      The study also says that Finnish men have more time for hobbies, while women have to make sacrifices, particularly in families with small children.
     
The researchers suggest that the burden of families with children could be alleviated by increasing the number of part-time jobs.
      Furthermore, possibilities to buy in housework services would help many families.
      "There is a distinct demand for flexitime, 'banking of hours', and other systems of flexible working time", argue researchers Hannu Piekkola and Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen.
      The sample of the survey was 5,332 persons in Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  More Finns drop out of labour market; many women staying home (21.4.2004)

Links:
  Social Insurance Institution of Finland
  The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
  The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy ETLA

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