Parents in Employment – Achievements and Challenges

This chapter discusses parental employment patterns in OECD countries. The presence of children in households has little effect on how much men work, but it can profoundly affect maternal labour force behaviour. In general, mothers have strengthened their labour market attachment in recent decades, but there are considerable differences in employment patterns across countries. Apart from the discussion of employment trends and how maternal employment outcomes vary with the age and number of children, this chapter also considers gender wage gaps and gender differences in the contribution to household earnings, as well as joblessness among families and the related issue of family poverty.