European Welfare Modelling and Work-life Balance Policies

- Neglecting Working Carers other than Parents

Paper by Trine P. Larsen, FAOS & Serkawt Khola, Salahaddin University, Kurdistan, Iraq

Work/life balance issues have increasingly become central to much government policy worldwide. National governments have responded differently to assist employees with caring responsibilities. This article argues that parents in particular have attracted governments' attention and comprehensive work/life balance packages have been put in place in Denmark, Finland, Portugal and the UK. Employees caring for an older person have received less attention and are often overlooked in much European welfare modelling and national work and care packages. In fact, much European welfare modelling appears slightly misleading when looking at carers other than parents. Moreover, national government do not always assist employees with caring responsibilities from the perspective of mobilising the workforce as assumed in much welfare state modelling.

Paper for The International Scientific Conference of Salahaddin University, Erbil, 18-20 October 2011.