Childcare and Elderly Care: What Occupational Opportunities for Women?

As the population in OECD countries ages and requires longer periods of care and as more children are cared for outside their homes, there is growing recognition of the significance of caring services both economically and socially. Up to now the policy discussion has focussed mainly on two central issues: quality of care and cost of care. These issues are closely inter-linked with how employment in the caring sector is expanding and developing, an issue which has however received relatively little attention.The demand for caring workers has increased dramatically in the past twenty-five years. Caring occupations are major employers of women across OECD countries and their working conditions, career opportunities, and earnings patterns have a significant impact on women’s overall situation in the labour market. This report examines caring occupations in the childcare and the elderly care sectors and the opportunities they offer women as these occupations are changing with respect ... Du fait que la population des pays de l’OCDE vieillit et a besoin de soins de plus longue durée et que la garde des enfants est plus souvent assurée en dehors du foyer familial, l’importance économique et sociale des services personnels est de plus en plus largement reconnue. Jusqu’ici, le débat politique a porté essentiellement sur deux questions primordiales : la qualité des services et leur coût. Ces questions sont intimement liées à l’expansion de l’emploi dans les services personnels, expansion dont toutefois on s’est encore relativement peu préoccupé.Au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années, la demande de travail pour les services personnels a considérablement augmenté. Dans les pays de l’OCDE, les services personnels emploient beaucoup de femmes et les conditions de travail, les perspectives de carrière et les salaires offerts jouent un grand rôle dans la situation des femmes sur le marché du travail. Ce rapport examine les métiers des services personnels destinés aux jeunes ...