Why should we care about care? Supply and Demand Assessment of Care Services in Georgia : A Mixed Methods Study
Only 58 percent of Georgian women ages 15 and above participate in the labor market, a slightly higher share than the Europe (51 percent) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (51.3 percent) average but 20 percentage poi...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/887801548269893452/Why-should-we-care-about-care-Supply-and-Demand-Assessment-of-Care-Services-in-Georgia-A-Mixed-Methods-Study http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31253 |
| Summary: | Only 58 percent of Georgian women ages
15 and above participate in the labor market, a slightly
higher share than the Europe (51 percent) and Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (51.3
percent) average but 20 percentage points lower than the
share among men in the country. Moreover, the gender gap in
labor force participation has been constant and around 18 to
20 percentage points over the last decade. Married women
living in households with children under age six are at a
higher disadvantage in the labor market; only 50 percent of
them participate in the labor force compared to 84 percent
of men with similar characteristics.The conflicting demand
on women’s time for care and work activities represents a
fundamental barrier to economic participation and generates
a vicious circle of low labor market attachment and
prominence of the care provider role that leads to increased
vulnerability and gender-based inequalities. About 60
percent of working-age women not looking for a job in
Georgia cite family responsibilities as the main reason (the
share is 67 percent among married ones). In the case of men,
this percentage is 21 percent. Georgia cannot afford to
underutilize a large share of women whose lifetime
productivity in the labor market is currently reduced by
informal and at-home care provision. In fact, for Georgia,
it has been estimated that differences in labor market
activity rates between men and women amount to potential
economic losses in gross domestic product per capita of
approximately 11 percent (Cuberes and Teignier 2016a,
2016b). Policy options to appropriately address the
challenges identified in this note include the expansion
ofpublicly and privately provided childcare centers in both
urban and rural areas, establishment ofeducation and
accreditation programs to prepare caregivers and care
entrepreneurs, development of aplan to increase quality of
services with attention to costs, and design of eldercare
system considering the impacts on care recipients, the
active aging promotion objective of age-related policies, as
well as the impacts on informal and family care providers
and their ability to contribute to sustained economic growth. |
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