Suchergebnisse

To what extent a pension system can be judged fair given structural differences in life expectancy across socioeconomic groups is not straightforward and will depend on the exact design of the system and other social policies in place, and how these policies interact with the pension system.

This study looks at the recent development (1998–2009) in the number of years of schooling that a 6-year old can expect to attend until their 30th birthday for the EU-27 countries. All countries have seen an increase in the number of expected years of schooling, which is driven mainly by increased tertiary enrolment rates. At the same time the education gap vis-à-vis the US has been closed. The dispersion of expected length of education among EU countries has also decreased. Thus, by this measure, education among countries has become more equal. In spite of this progress, some countries will find it difficult to meet their national targets for tertiary educational attainments for 30–34 year-olds in 2020. This is largely because the tertiary education participation rates of young males have been falling behind those of females in many countries. Focussing on the tertiary educational attainments of 30–34 year-olds leaves governments with little time to pursue policies with substantial impact. It would be preferable to supplement the educational attainment target for 30–34 year-olds with an enrolment target for 20–24 year-olds.

Abstract We study the effect of grandparental childcare on parent's labour supply in 12 European countries covered by the SHARE survey in the period 2004 – 2015. An instrumental variable approach is used to deal with endogeneity. Having access to grandparents caring for young children increases mothers' propensity to work by 13 percentage points. There is no effect for fathers. The size of the effect of grandparental childcare differs across countries but is relevant in size for most countries studied. The effect is largest for pre-school age children, but still estimated at 8 percentage points for women with children in the age group of 8 – 10 years. There is some evidence for a larger effect for mothers with low educational attainment, though the difference is not large. The findings suggest that the ongoing policy drive to extend working lives for workers in the age group 55 – 64 years could affect labour market attachment of mothers by limiting time available for grandparental childcare. Increased availability of kindergarten and nursery services can dampen the effect on mother's labour supply but not alleviate it completely. Zusammenfassung: Kinderbetreuung von Großeltern und Arbeitskräfteangebot der Eltern: Evidenz aus Europa Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen der Kinderbetreuung von Großeltern auf das Arbeitskräfteangebot der Eltern in zwölf europäischen Ländern die in SHARE vertreten sind im Zeitraum 2004 – 2015. Ein instrumentalvariabler Ansatz wird verwendet, um mit der Endogenität umzugehen. Der Zugang zu Großeltern, die sich um kleine Kinder kümmern, erhöht die Bereitschaft von Müttern zur Arbeit um 13 Prozentpunkte. Für Väter lassen sich keine Effekte feststellen. Das Ausmaß der Auswirkungen von großelterlicher Kinderbetreuung unterscheidet sich von Land zu Land, ist jedoch für die meisten untersuchten Länder von Bedeutung. Der Effekt ist für Kinder im Vorschulalter am größten, wird jedoch bei Frauen mit Kindern in der Altersgruppe von 8 bis 10 Jahren immer noch auf 8 Prozentpunkte geschätzt. Es gibt Hinweise darauf, dass Mütter mit niedrigem Bildungsstand größere Auswirkungen haben, allerdings ist der Unterschied gering. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die anhaltende Politik zur Verlängerung des Erwerbslebens von Arbeitnehmern in der Altersgruppe von 55 bis 64 Jahren die Bindung von Müttern am Arbeitsmarkt beeinträchtigen könnte, indem die zur Verfügung stehende Zeit für großelterliche Kinderbetreuung begrenzt wird. Eine erhöhte Verfügbarkeit von Kindergartenund Kindergarteneinrichtungen kann die Auswirkungen auf das Arbeitskräfteangebot von Müttern zwar vermindern, aber nicht vollständig auflösen.

This paper argues that none of the secular trends that have driven down real interest rates over the past decades is likely to reverse in the near future. Government debt-servicing costs have therefore decreased significantly and can be expected to decrease further over the coming years. We calculate the direct gains accruing to the Belgian government from lower net debt interest payments and contrast them to the projected future increases in age-related expenditures. If interest rates remain on their current levels and savings on interest payments are channelled to cover the increases in age-related expenditures, they will cover two thirds of financing needs in these areas until 2030.

The new European Commission will inherit an impasse in efforts to reform the European asylum system as well as concerns about practices in the management of the EU's external border that contradict humanitarian standards and may even be illegal. While the number of asylum seekers who manage to reach EU territory is now lower than in previous years, it may be low precisely because of those problematic practices, including abuse of irregular migrants along the Western Balkan route, limited search and rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean, and EU cooperation with the Libyan coast guard even though migrants returned by it to Libya have been abused. In this 2019 MEDAM Assessment Report, we present insights from MEDAM research and policy dialogue since 2016 to explain how closer cooperation among EU member states and with countries of origin and transit can improve outcomes for all stakeholders.