Women ‘leaving jobs to save on childcare costs’

SOARING childcare costs are forcing thousands of women to abandon their jobs and return home, figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have revealed.

The ESRI’s economist Professor John Fitzgerald said increased costs have reduced the benefits of working.

Some parents will pay €62,000 in childcare before their offspring reach the age of 12, research has shown.

This figure is based on a flat payment of €100 a week for 52 weeks of the year.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) claims that the average industrial worker spends 25% of their weekly income on childcare.

The weekly cost ranges between €100 and €200 depending on location, with cities twice as expensive as regional towns.

Urging the Government to introduce tax breaks to deal with the problem, SIPTU president Des Geraghty said:

“We have called for a national system of childcare at every round of pay talks and I think the Government has made a big mistake by ignoring this. It’s an issue that must be addressed urgently.”

Most parents use childminders in the home and only 10% send their children to crèches. Almost 45% of parents rely on workers in the black economy to mind their children.

The number of women aged between 25 and 34 working outside the home has also dropped for the first time in a decade.

“The fact that so many jobs have been lost in factories has played a part, because many women worked in these units,” Mr Geraghty said.

The ESRI is particularly worried about the decline in female workers aged between 25 and 34. There was a 1.6% fall in this category last year.

There were further falls in the number of employed women in the 20 to 24 age group, with 2.5% less in the workforce since last year.

Unemployment among women could be even greater than the ESRI figures show, because women don’t appear on official statistics when they return to the home, Mr Fitzgerald warned.