Publication: Why Should We Care About Care? The Role of Childcare and Eldercare in Armenia
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2017-04
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2019-11-20
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Only 56 percent of women ages 15-64 participate in the labor market, a slightly higher share than the Europe and Central Asia average, but 18 percentage points lower than the share among men in Armenia. The conflicting demand on women's time for care and work activities represents a fundamental barrier to economic participation and generates a vicious circle of low labor market attachment and prominence of the care provider role that leads to increased vulnerability and gender-based inequalities. International evidence shows that support for childcare and eldercare affects women's labor market participation. This note examines the care needs of families with children and/or elderly household members and the provision of formal care services in Armenia with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality characteristics. Based on the analysis of an independent mixed-methods dataset collected in several countries of Europe and Central Asia, this note documents the perceptions and barriers in the use of quality formal care in Armenia. Five main messages emerge from the assessment of supply and demand of formal childcare and eldercare in Armenia: 1) Although social norms strongly highlight the role of women as caregiver, there is scope for policy aimed at increasing access and affordability of childcare and early education: Around 24 percent of parents of children ages 0 to 5 currently not attending kindergarten report that the reason of no attendance is lack of the service or being unable to afford it. 2) The demand for childcare services is voiced predominantly by parents perceiving benefits for their child’s development and working (or willing-to-work) mothers. 3) Use of childcare is regressive: There are significant differences in enrollment to kindergarten and nursery between the poorest and the richest households (12.7 and 36.4 percent respectively). A well-developed childcare sector not only would help generating economic participation opportunities for women but also implies potential improvements in the school readiness for children especially for the most vulnerable households. 4) Day-care centers and home-based formats—if available—will be more compatible with prevailing standards of care for the elderly. 5) Quality is important for potential users of formal care services and the main challenges of the existing supply involves human resources (HR).
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“World Bank. 2017. Why Should We Care About Care? The Role of Childcare and Eldercare in Armenia. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32644 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Policy options to appropriately address the challenges identified in this note include the expansion ofpublicly and privately provided childcare centers in both urban and rural areas, establishment ofeducation and accreditation programs to prepare caregivers and care entrepreneurs, development of aplan to increase quality of services with attention to costs, and design of eldercare system considering the impacts on care recipients, the active aging promotion objective of age-related policies, as well as the impacts on informal and family care providers and their ability to contribute to sustained economic growth.Publication Why Should We Care about Care?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-12-12)This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in FYR Macedonia with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. 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The note is structured as follows: section two introduces the new, independent mixed methods data set that is the basis for the analysis and findings presented. Section three describes the use of formal care arrangements in Kosovo. Next, based on the analysis of perspectives both from families with care needs and from care providers and discussing the role of norms and perceptions of childcare and eldercare use, the following sections are dedicated to the description of supply and demand of childcare and eldercare, respectively. Sections four and five focuses on the supply and demand of childcare, and sections six and seven describe supply and demand of eldercare. Section eight concludes by examining what we know in terms of policies that can support families in informal care provision in a sustainable and incentive-compatible manner.Publication Why Should We Care about Care?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-12)Despite a slight increase in female labor participation between 2012 and 2013, employment rates in Serbia stood at 40.1 percent for women in 2013, almost 15 percentage points below employment rates for men (at 54.9 percent). International evidence shows that support for childcare and eldercare affects women’s labor market participation. This note examines the care needs of families with children and or elderly household members and the provision of formal care services in Serbia with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality characteristics. Based on the analysis of an independent mixed-methods dataset collected in the Western Balkans region, this note documents the perceptions and barriers in the use of quality formal care in Serbia. Quality provision of formal eldercare can potentially improve health outcomes for the elderly through prevention, early detection, and consistent maintenance of chronic diseases, which may imply long-term cost savings in the healthcare sector.
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