Use of Child Home Care Allowance Among Immigrants
Abstract
It has been shown that children from disadvantaged or immigrant families benefit from quality day care as compared with home care. Children who go to day care are often better prepared for school by virtue of language and social learning. In Finland, home care after parental leave is subsidized by a child home care allowance (CHCA). CHCA can be paid until the youngest child in the family turns three years. An additional supplement is payable for the home care of older siblings.
This study compares CHCA use among immigrant and native families for children born in 1999–2007. As CHCA is used with almost 90 per cent of all children, the article concentrates on analysing the length of benefit spells. To infer whether the differences are really due to immigrant status or cultural differences, demographic and socio-economic factors are controlled. The study is based on longitudinal register data drawn from several
administrative sources. Immigrant children are divided into four groups based on mother’s country of birth.
CHCA spells are longer in all immigrant groups as compared with natives. The differences remain significant after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. The results likely reflect immigrants’ weaker position in the labour market. CHCA spells are the longest in families coming from refugee countries, i.e. the group that would need the most support with integration. However, it seems that immigrants use the sibling supplement less often, and the gap to natives has narrowed for all groups during the study period.
Author
Jussi Tervola
Additional Information
- Peer-Reviewed: yes.
- Open Access: yes.
- Cite as: Tervola, J. (2015). Maahanmuuttajien kotihoidon tuen käyttö 2000-luvulla. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 80(2), 121–33.
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201504162727
