Single parents face higher risk of relative poverty in societies with many dual-earner households
Single-parent incomes are less likely to reach above the poverty thresholds in societies with a large share of dual-earner households. But this pattern only appears in countries with low public expenditures on childcare and income-transfer policies. These are the findings of a new study from the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), recently published in a special issue of the scientific journal ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Researcher of sociology Rense Nieuwenhuis has examined the risk of ending up in relative poverty for single-parent households in countries that have a large share of households with two parents bringing in an income. Using data from eighteen OECD countries he looked at the period 1984 to 2010. The relative poverty is defined as having an income that is less than 60 percent of the median income of the country, and this states a threshold to measure which households face a risk of not being able to fully participate in society.
”I find that single parents face higher risks of relative income poverty in countries with a large share of dual-earner households. Those countries tend to have higher standards of living, which also raised the poverty thresholds. Since a household with only one parent working and bringing in money often has a lower income it’s less likely that they reach those higher poverty thresholds”, said Rense Nieuwenhuis.
He also studied which kind of countries these higher risks appear in, in regards to the kind of social policy and welfare model used in the state, and how much is spent on childcare and social security,
Foto: Daniel Rossetti / SU
“I find that this overall pattern varied across institutional contexts. A rise of dual-earner households puts single parents at a disadvantage only in countries that have relatively low public expenditures on childcare and relatively low income-transfer policies”, said Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Dual-earner households became much more common in the period studied, mostly in relation to improvements in gender equality. This has been a major change in OECD countries, and often was intentionally supported by policies, including childcare. And while single parents greatly benefit from better gender equality, and from childcare, Rense Nieuwenhuis wants to underline that the dual-earner society can also come with challenges for single parents.
“I think there are important implications for policy. Many governments seek to achieve employment growth with the aim to reduce poverty. And while this definitely can help some, it should be considered that not everyone benefits equally from more employment. Secondly, the results show that childcare and social security are particularly important in dual-earner societies, such as Sweden. This means that budget cuts to for instance unemployment benefits will be a risk particularly for single parents”, said Rense Nieuwenhuis.
How the study was carried out
The study was carried out using data from the Luxembourg Income Study. It was based on data on over 2 million parents, either living in a couple or as a single parent. These were combined with data on policies. For the purpose of the study, 18 OECD countries were compared over a period of approximately 25 years: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Read more about the research
Nieuwenhuis, Rense. “Single Parents Competing in a Dual-Earner Society: Social Policy to Level the Playing Field.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 702, no. 1 (2022): 114–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221122686.
Contact
Rense Nieuwenhuis
Researcher, docent of sociology
Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)
Stockholm University
Email : rense.nieuwenhuis@sofi.su.se
Phone: 08-16 43 17
Last updated: December 13, 2022
Source: SOFI