International policies toward parental leave and child care.
International policies toward parental leave and child care.
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DOI：
10.7916/d8cg00wx
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发表时间：
2001-03
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Jane Waldfogel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Jane Waldfogel
养育新生儿的乐趣和压力是普遍的，但各国父母的支持却大相径庭。在许多国家，几十年来对新父母福利和服务的关注提供了值得我们国家关注的教训。本文描述了美国以及北美和欧洲10个工业国家有关育儿假、儿童保育和幼儿福利的政策。美国与其他国家之间最鲜明的对比，尽管其他国家之间的差异也具有启发性：对美国工人来说，休育儿假的权利是新的；它覆盖了私营部门一半的劳动力，相对较短且无薪。相比之下，其他国家提供普遍的10个月或更长时间的带薪休假。在欧洲，儿童保育援助通常是通过公共资助项目提供的，而美国更多地依靠补贴和税收抵免来偿还父母的部分儿童保育费用。各国对育儿假的重视程度不同，对有三岁以下儿童的家庭的儿童保育支持程度也不同。每一种方法都会产生激励，影响父母关于就业和儿童保育的决定。一些为父母寻求灵活解决方案的欧洲国家正在测试“早期儿童福利”，该福利可用于补充收入或支付私人儿童保育费用。在此基础上，作者敦促美国采用至少10个月的普遍带薪育儿假；帮助父母支付更多的托儿费用；提高儿童保育的质量。她发现，支持不同父母选择的一揽子政策很有希望，因为休假和照顾的正确搭配会因家庭和孩子而异。
The pleasures and pressures of parenting a newborn are universal, but the supports surrounding parents vary widely from country to country. In many nations, decades of attention to benefits and services for new parents offer lessons worthy of attention in this country. This article describes policies regarding parental leave, child care, and early childhood benefits here and in 10 industrial nations in North America and Europe. The sharpest contrast separates the United States from the other countries, although differences among the others also are instructive: The right to parental leave is new to American workers; it covers one-half of the private-sector workforce and is relatively short and unpaid. By contrast, other nations offer universal, paid leaves of 10 months or more. Child care assistance in Europe is usually provided through publicly funded programs, whereas the United States relies more on subsidies and tax credits to reimburse parents for part of their child care expenses. Nations vary in the emphasis they place on parental leave versus child care supports for families with children under age three. Each approach creates incentives that influence parents' decisions about employment and child care. Several European nations, seeking flexible solutions for parents, are testing "early childhood benefits" that can be used to supplement income or pay for private child care. Based on this review, the author urges that the United States adopt universal, paid parental leave of at least 10 months; help parents cover more child care costs; and improve the quality of child care. She finds policy packages that support different parental choices promising, because the right mix of leave and care will vary from family to family, and child to child.