Working hours mothers crucial for hours their children spend in formal child care

Mothers working long hours, more often use formal child care facilities than mothers with small jobs. The working hours of the fathers appear to be irrelevant in this respect.

Annual average nearly 1,300 hours

The average households receiving a child care allowance in 2006 and 2007, made use of formal child care facilities during 1,300 hours a year, as opposed to 1,550 hours for mothers working on a full-time basis. The number of hours is much higher than for mothers working in small part-time jobs (more than 1,000 hours). Whether the father is working full-time or part-time seems to play no part.

Formal child care by working hours mothers, 2007

High inflow, low outflow

Parents are eligible for a child care allowance, if they meet certain conditions, e.g. the applicant and his/her partner must both be employed. In 2007, 388 thousand households received an allowance for formal child care. Nearly 254 thousand households also received the child care allowance in 2006; 134 thousand households received the allowance for the first time in 2007. The outflow of households receiving the allowance in 2006, but no longer in 2007 was only 15 thousand.

Households receiving child care allowances

Many host parents among new recipients

More than half of households using child care facilities for the first time in 2007 had day care and nearly 30 percent host parent care. New recipients more often made use of host parent care than those who also received an allowance in 2006. 
The majority of households receiving an allowance in 2006 and in 2007 made use of day care and after-school care.

Inflow and throughflow by type of care, 2007

Martine Mol