High childcare costs keep women out of work - ISME

High childcare costs and the lack of childcare places are keeping many women out of work and depriving the workplace of much needed skills, according to the small business lobby group ISME.

The ongoing childcare crisis is a major stumbling block to recruitment at a time when small businesses are struggling to fill vacancies, the group said yesterday in a document urging the Government to provide increased funding and tax breaks towards the provision of childcare facilities.

Without improvements to the childcare system,Ireland will need an extra 250,000 migrant workers to fill the positions that could be filled by the "untapped potential workforce" that is mothers at home, ISME said.

"Urgent action is now needed to contain the situation as the OECD has predicted 220,000 childcare places will be needed by 2010, equal to an additional 15,200 places a year," ISME said in the document.

The failure of women to return to work was "having a serious impact on the economy's labour supply as, for many mothers, it now makes better economic sense to stay at home with children than to pay exorbitant childcare prices."

Childcare costs in Ireland are the highest in Europe, according to ISME. At an average of €180 a week for one child, they are three times the European Union average and equal to 38 per cent of an average Irish worker's take- home pay. This might help explain why only half of Irish women are in work, compared with just under three quarters in Sweden and Denmark, according to figures from the International Labour Organisation.

Orla O'Connor, head of policy at the National Women's Council of Ireland, agrees. "Childcare is a huge issue," she said, describing it as the biggest lack of equality between men and women today.

"Particularly once women have had their second child, that's when you will see them dropping out of the workforce. For many, work is just not a feasible option."

Research by ISME shows that, while female participation in the Irish workforce increased by 7 per cent between 2001 and 2005, only 1 per cent of the growth came from women aged between 25 and 35, with most of the increase coming from those aged between 45 and 54 who are returning to work after raising children.

"There is a serious crisis looming in Ireland in the provision of childcare, state supports and services for young children," said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

"Adequate childcare facilities at a reasonable cost are rare, with the result that many parents, particularly women, are opting to stay at home instead of entering or re-entering the labour market."

In the document, ISME also calls for employers to be allowed to provide tax deductible subsidies to employees for the specific provision of childcare.

These calls are backed up by the women's council, which is also campaigning for publicly subsidised childcare to reduce the cost of returning to work. It is also urging the Government to make pre-schools free to bring Ireland into line with the rest of the EU.