ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to study the impact of the various family policy models on the incentives of parents to participate in the labor market in a number of Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. It examines the economic effects of income transfers from the perspective of poverty. The chapter describes briefly how the various welfare states have structured their family policy systems. It focuses on the economic situation of families with children by analyzing the poverty rates of different types of families with differing employment patterns. The aim of family policies is to redistribute the cost of raising children, harmonize work and family commitments, and enable women to participate in the labor market. The rise in the labor market participation of women in general, and especially of mothers with small children, is a widely illustrated and internationally applicable social phenomenon. Women's employment is a central element in alleviating the risk of poverty.
