Combining Family and Working Life Remains Difficult in Germany

French women with children are more often employed than German mothers. This is the case despite the fact that French women are more frequently mothers, and also have more children than German women. In France in 2000, 68 per cent of mothers were employed, whilst this was the case for only 57 per cent of mothers in Germany.

The difference between France and Germany is particularly stark when it comes to the employment of women with children up to the age of six; only 36 per cent of German women with at least one child under the age of six are in employment. In France, however, the corresponding figure is 59 per cent. This has been shown through analyses of representative data, carried out by the Centre for European Economics Research (ZEW) in Mannheim.

One explanation for the higher employment rate in France, despite the higher birth rate, is that French family policy is structured somewhat differently to that in Germany. In France, family policy is traditionally aimed at making it possible for women to successfully combine family life and work. This is reflected, for example, in the country-wide network of state childcare facilities. In Germany, however, family policy has the primary aim of ensuring that parental childcare is financially rewarded, through the means of regional and national child benefits. Quite how important a well-established network of state childcare facilities is, however, is illustrated through comparison of the employment of mothers in East and West Germany. Such comparison shows that mothers in East Germany exhibit similar behaviours to French women; they are much more frequently employed than women in West Germany. In West Germany only around 15 per cent of mothers are in full-time employment. In East Germany this figure is much higher, at 42 per cent. This can be attributed to the better provision of childcare in East Germany, particularly when it comes to the provision of full-day care for young children.

The frequently made claim that more highly educated women in Germany have fewer children than those who are less educated, has also been shown to be incorrect. It is much rather the case, that more highly educated women simply become mothers later. In contrast, the birth rate in France clearly correlates with the education level of mothers. It is true of both countries, that the more educated a young mother, the more likely it is that she will return to employment following the birth of a child.

Contact

Dr Charlotte Lauer, E-mail: lauer@zew.de

Andrea Weber, E-mail: weber@zew.de