Bridging gaps: how investment in public childcare affects women’s employment in Italy and Spain

Figures & data

Figure 1. Evolution of average public ECEC coverage, and average employment and inactivity rates for women between 25 and 49 years of age with children aged between 0 and 2 years – by those regions above, and below, the average regional GDP per capita for the year 2006.

Source: own elaboration with European Labour Force Survey microdata 2006–2018 (only women 25–49 years of age with children aged 0–2 years), Education Ministry of Spain, and ISTAT.

Figure 2. Evolution of average public ECEC coverage, and average part-time and involuntary part-time, for women aged between 25 and 49 years of age and with children aged between 0 and 2 years – for those regions above and below the 2006 average regional GDP per capita.

Source: own elaboration with European Labour Force Survey microdata 2006–2018 (only women 25–49 years of age with children aged 0–2 year), Education Ministry of Spain, and ISTAT.

Table 1. Within-group regressors for employment and inactivity rates for women with children, and according to their education.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)		(5)	(6)
VARIABLES	Employment rate for women with children 0–2 years old at home	Employment rate for women with degrees	Employment rate for women without degrees	Inactivity rate for women with children 0–2 years old at home	Inactivity rate for women with degrees		Inactivity rate for women without degrees
Public childcare services coverage rates	0.159*	−0.0799	0.105***	−0.230**	−0.0171		−0.223***
	(0.0923)	(0.0523)	(0.0300)	(0.0848)	(0.0246)		(0.0445)
Rate for women 25–49 with degrees	0.278*	0.149	0.132**	−0.267	−0.0283		0.0239
	(0.156)	(0.102)	(0.0599)	(0.185)	(0.0517)		(0.0760)
Average Company size	0.0686	0.0996	0.0300	−0.216	−0.185**		−0.250**
	(0.206)	(0.108)	(0.0911)	(0.194)	(0.0875)		(0.100)
Rate for public employees over total employment	0.218	−0.140	0.00222	−0.497***	−0.125		−0.468***
	(0.158)	(0.130)	(0.106)	(0.145)	(0.0815)		(0.0974)
Rate for knowledge-based workers over non-knowledge-based workers	0.280	0.402	−0.870***	−0.495	−0.376**		0.202
	(0.516)	(0.321)	(0.282)	(0.294)	(0.139)		(0.233)
Rate for sectors with a workforce comprised of over 70% women	−0.376*	0.188	−0.341***	0.158	−0.109		0.218
	(0.212)	(0.143)	(0.108)	(0.251)	(0.120)		(0.141)
Rate for sectors with a workforce comprised of over 20% part-time workers	0.385**	0.0907	0.290***	−0.554**	−0.197**		−0.415***
	(0.154)	(0.126)	(0.0864)	(0.215)	(0.0825)		(0.0872)
GDP per capita (in thousands)	3.133***	1.528*	2.314***	−2.257**	0.436		0.105
	(1.066)	(0.877)	(0.537)	(1.112)	(0.659)		(0.608)
GDP per capita squared	−0.0425***	−0.0170	−0.0272***	0.0327**	−0.00561		0.00298
	(0.0134)	(0.0107)	(0.00687)	(0.0137)	(0.00811)		(0.00666)
Total fertility rate	10.16	10.26***	9.004***	6.541	−0.124		2.033
	(7.966)	(3.742)	(3.045)	(6.782)	(3.388)		(4.424)
Constant	−30.12	25.13	−1.082	104.1***	25.47**		51.08***
	(21.48)	(15.95)	(10.29)	(20.28)	(10.69)		(12.48)
Time Effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Region Effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes
Clustered Errors	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes		Yes
Observations	494	494	494	494	494		494
R-squared	0.135	0.445	0.441	0.351	0.138		0.513
Number of regions	38	38	38	38	38		38

Robust standard errors in brackets, ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1.

Data: European Labour Force Survey, aggregated microdata 2006–2018, only women aged 25–49 according to their education and if they have children aged 0–2 years at home

Table 2. Within-group regressors for part-time and involuntary part-time rates for women with children, and according to their education.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
VARIABLES	Part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old with children 0–2 yrs. old at home	Part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old with degrees	Part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old without degrees	Involuntary part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old with children 0–2 yrs. old at home	Involuntary part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old with degrees	Involuntary part-time employment rate for women 25–49 yrs. old without degrees
Public childcare services coverage rates	−0.321***	−0.00787	−0.0780	−0.193**	−0.0948**	−0.129*
	(0.0871)	(0.0293)	(0.0806)	(0.0806)	(0.0410)	(0.0721)
Rate for women 25–49 with degrees	0.159	0.152**	−0.0183	−0.0341	−0.107	−0.133
	(0.231)	(0.0681)	(0.138)	(0.114)	(0.0650)	(0.112)
Average company size	−0.551*	−0.186	−0.439**	−0.248	−0.321***	−0.336***
	(0.282)	(0.112)	(0.178)	(0.151)	(0.0590)	(0.109)
Rate for public employees over total employment	0.0372	0.0970	−0.186*	−0.0706	−0.0639	−0.0835
	(0.353)	(0.0943)	(0.0974)	(0.0867)	(0.0520)	(0.0710)
Rate for knowledge-basedworkers over non-knowledgebased workers	−0.511	−0.389	0.192	−0.376*	−0.167	0.0994
	(0.569)	(0.340)	(0.283)	(0.202)	(0.115)	(0.171)
Rate for sectors with a workforce comprised of over 20% part-time workers	−0.117	−0.211*	0.128	−0.119	−0.00554	0.0917
	(0.166)	(0.106)	(0.110)	(0.0984)	(0.0762)	(0.102)
GDP per capita (in thousands)	−1.627	−1.643***	−1.561*	−0.905	−1.110***	−1.339**
	(1.246)	(0.571)	(0.799)	(0.656)	(0.401)	(0.572)
GDP per capita	0.0220	0.0232***	0.0196*	0.0104	0.0125**	0.0125
	(0.0152)	(0.00752)	(0.0101)	(0.00767)	(0.00563)	(0.00822)
Total fertility rate	−4.200	2.687	−5.201	−13.80**	−7.584***	−7.153*
	(7.262)	(4.215)	(4.819)	(5.520)	(2.685)	(4.046)
Constant	87.36***	51.39***	72.79***	56.52***	53.54***	56.88***
	(22.28)	(11.61)	(13.92)	(13.32)	(6.884)	(10.57)
Time Effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Region Effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Clustered Errors	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	494	494	494	494	494	494
R-squared	0.099	0.479	0.513	0.466	0.852	0.786
Number of Regions	38	38	38	38	38	38

Robust standard errors in brackets, ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1.

Data: European Labour Force Survey, aggregated microdata 2006–2018, only women 25–49 years old according to their education and if they have children aged 0–2 years at home