New Roland Berger study reveals measures to boost female employment

2006

The effects of demographic change have been headline news in many European countries over the past months. Birth rates in Germany have reached their all time low, leading to renewed emphasis on means to boost fertility rates while maintaining a high-level of women in the work force. A new Roland Berger study reveals that changing three key levers achieve these goals simultaneously while boosting overall economic growth.

According to the study, entitled "Family Ltd." (Unternehmen Familie) the rate of female employment can be increased drastically by tackling three challenges. First, the authors argue, family support services (i.e. child care services, domestic cleaning services, online grocery shopping) have to be made tax deductible from the overall family tax base. Secondly, social security contributions for these type of domestic services must be reduced. Thirdly, the possibilities for women to achieve additional qualifications upon reentering the workforce must be enhanced. This three lever program, the authors Stefan Schaible (RBSC Partner), Michael Schweiger (RBSC Senior Consultant) and Ashok Kaul (University of Mainz) argue could boost GDP growth in Germany by 0.2-0.4% and create 60,000 jobs a year.

Submitted as part of a project for the German non-profit foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung the study examines key aspects of how to facilitate family life through domestic services and evaluates the tax advantages for the federal economy. With the help of an international benchmarking using France, Sweden and Great Britain as comparisons the authors define concrete steps to be taken by Germany's government with respect to enhancing the availibility of domestic services, creating better information networks for families and implementing planned tax reforms to ease the financial burden on families.

The findings were presented in a joint press conference with German Family Minister, Ursula von der Leyen and Stefan Schaible. Mrs. von der Leyen praised the initiative as an "important contribution" which further underpinned her political approach to supporting the role of working mothers and facilitating affordable childcare for everyone.