Work-family state support for the self-employed across Europe
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
ISSN: 2045-2101
Article publication date: 17 August 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to map and understand work-family state support for the self-employed compared to employees across European countries.
Design/methodology/approach
To map state work-family support policies for the self-employed, an overview of public childcare, maternity, paternity, and parental leave arrangements across European countries is created based on databases, local government web sites, and local experts’ country notes. Secondary data analyses are conducted in order to compare support for the self-employed to support for employees and across countries. Differences across countries are analysed from a welfare state regime perspective, which explicates assumptions about the role of the government in providing work-family state support and which is often used in research on work-family support for employees.
Findings
Results show that, in general, the self-employed receive less work-family state support than employees or none at all. The extensiveness of work-family state support varies widely across European countries. Patterns of welfare states regimes, which explain variation in work-family support for employees, can also be found in the context of self-employment.
Practical implications
Findings result in practical suggestions for policy makers at the European and national level to monitor policy compliance considering maternity leave for the self-employed, to increase childcare support, and to rethink the European Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan.
Originality/value
Work-family state support for the growing number of self-employed has never been mapped before, although this is a very topical issue for (European) policy makers. This paper offers a starting point to contextualise and understand the way self-employed experience the work-family interface in different country contexts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study has been funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO 14010002.006).
Citation
Annink, A., den Dulk, L. and Steijn, B. (2015), "Work-family state support for the self-employed across Europe", Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEPP-01-2014-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited