Public childcare in Italy
In Italy, as in most European countries, public childcare is provided by local authorities. However, many differences are present in the public service. For example, the number of places available in the public sector is very limited. The availability of childcare also varies according to age group and location within Italy. The availability of public care is much higher for children older than three. Childcare for children over that age is used by 95 percent of children, while childcare for those under three is used only by 6 percent. While the availability of childcare for children older than three is uniform across regions, this is not the case for children under three. There are marked differences across regions. In the south of Italy especially, public childcare is characterised by low availability. Both public and private childcare1 are less widely available in the South than in the North. Not surprisingly, the number of women who work in the North is about 50 percent, while in the South it is lower: it also depends on childcare availability.
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1 Another option (very rare in ltaly) is company crèches or day-centres in the workplace. These are n ursery schools created by companies in their own building. They are quite common in northern Europe.
Childcare issues
Childcare costs also vary with the age of the child. The cost of childcare for children under three is much higher on average than the cost of childcare for older children. Other significant characteristics of the Italian labour market contribute to the difficulties experienced by working mothers in using childcare. Part-time jobs are not many in most areas, while high unemployment makes it risky for mothers of young children to take time off beyond that which is guaranteed by basic maternity leave.
Parental leave
Mandatory paid paternity leave, even if not extensively used, has been extended from the previous four days to five days. It can be taken during the first five months following the child’s birth. Working fathers can benefit from one extra day, in substitution of the mother. The use of non-parental childcare becomes an important resource for working mothers in areas of low part-time employment. Public childcare is used by only a small proportion of families and only when it can be supplemented by the extended family (grandparents) or informal childcare (babysitters) to compensate for its limitations.
