Child Home Care Allowance Take-Up and Subsequent Childbearing
Abstract
The child home care allowance, also referred as cash-for-care, is intended to give parents the option to extend their parental leave, stay home, and delay the placement of a small child in day care. Yet, the allowance is primarily used by mothers. In this study, we fill a research gap by examining how the duration of child home care allowance use is associated with birth spacing and the transition to higher parities – namely, second and third births in Finland. These outcomes are investigated for different groups based on, e.g., education level, earnings, and labour market status. Relying on full-population Finnish register data and survival analysis, we examine women who had their first child between 2000 and 2014. Our results show that home care allowance take-up was associated with a faster transition to a subsequent childbirth, but the association was positive only for mothers using the allowance for a short or a moderate period (1-18 months). Also, mothers using the home care allowance for a longer period (more than 18 months) were least likely to have a second or a third child compared to other mothers. Socioeconomic status, education, and labour market status before childbirth were linked to the length of the home care allowance period and parity progression. We show evidence that mothers from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as mothers with only primary education, low income or not in employment before childbirth were the most likely to take upthe home care allowance – and stay home – for a prolonged period.
Authors
Anni Erlandsson, Tapio Räsänen
Additional Information
- Peer-Reviewed: yes.
- Open Access: yes.
- Cite as: Erlandsson, A., & Räsänen, T. (2026). Child home care allowance take-up and subsequent childbearing (INVEST Working papers 149/2026, FLUX working papers 46/2026). https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/yjurh_v1
