Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/302612 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] DIW Weekly Report [ISSN:] 2568-7697 [Volume:] 14 [Issue:] 29/30/31 [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 201-207
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
On average, mothers and fathers in Germany divide paid work and care work very unequally. Mothers often only work part time, which results in further gender inequalities in the labor market. A current analysis of data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA) shows that the population's attitudes toward the ideal division of work between couples with children under 12 are considerably more egalitarian than the actual behavior of couples with young children of different ages. This discrepancy is due in part to the financial incentives of the German tax and transfer system for married couples, which arise from the interplay between income splitting (Ehegattensplitting) and the tax treatment of mini-jobs. In addition, childcare infrastructure is insufficient and a very high gender pay gap persists in Germany. If policymakers want to dismantle inequalities in the labor market, the tax and transfer system must be modernized and childcare options expanded to make a more equal division of paid work and care work between parents more appealing.
Subjects: 
family labor supply
gender gaps
social norms
tax and transfer system
work incentives
JEL: 
D13
J16
J22
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Article

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