Background to the Research

• This report describes how mothers view childcare and its effect on their participation in the labour market.
• Research Questions:
• Is childcare the main barrier for women who want to participate in the labour market?
• What other factors/barriers to employment do women identify e.g. cost of childcare, flexibility of work hours, travel arrangements etc?
• Is there a relationship between the length of unemployment and perceived barriers to employment?
• Are women attending community and women's groups receiving all the training they need to get them (back) into employment?
• Is there a relationship between the length of time respondents have been unemployed and their reasons for seeking employment?
• Is there a relationship between the number of children in a family and the barriers women perceive to employment?
• Is there a relationship between the ages of children in a family and the barriers women perceive to employment?
  

Research Approach

• A "Childcare and Employment" survey was administered to unemployed women attending local jobcentres, community and women's groups across NI. 888 surveys were returned from the 34 province wide job centres and 1304 surveys were returned from the community and women's groups in the 3 targeted areas of NI (Greater Craigavon, North/West Belfast, Ballycastle/The Glens). The surveys were completed within the centres over a 4-6 week period and were returned to the Employers For Childcare office for analysis. The main aim of the survey was to establish if childcare was the main barrier for women who wanted to secure employment for the first time or return to employment.
  

Main Findings

• For women attending their local jobcentre, 50% said that finding suitable childcare was the biggest barrier in securing employment and 17% found the cost of childcare a major problem. Of those attending local women's and community groups 49% said that finding suitable childcare was the biggest barrier and a further 17% found the anticipated cost of childcare a major problem.
• Other barriers included transport, having up to date skills, filling in application forms, preparing for the interview, lack of confidence in won ability and the length of time respondents had been unemployed.
• There was a significant relationship between the length of unemployment and perceived barriers to securing employment for women attending jobcentres as well as those women attending women's and community groups. The longer women had been unemployed the more barriers they identified in relation to securing employment.
• Only 15% of the women attending local women's and community groups were receiving relevant training in order to enter employment for the first time or return to the labour market. This training focused on IT skills.
• There was a relationship between the length of time respondents had been unemployed and their reasons for seeking employment now. These included financial reasons, wanting to further their career, their children not being as dependent and wanting to contribute more to their households.
• There was also a relationship between the number of children in a family and the perceived barriers to securing employment. If families had 3 or more male children or 2 or more female children living in the household this was perceived as a barrier to securing employment.
• Another relationship was found between the ages of children living in a family and the perceived barriers to securing employment. If the children in the family were under 3 years of age women found it more difficult to secure employment as presumably those children would have required childcare while the mother was at work.