The "Family Working-Time Benefits Model" (Familienarbeitszeit): Giving Mothers More Time for Work, Giving Fathers More Time for Family

Abstract

Two years ago, DIW Berlin introduced “Familienarbeitszeit”, which provides financial incentives for families in which both partners decide to take on reduced full-time employment (working hours amounting to roughly 80 percent of a full-time job). This study investigates further developments of this model: In addition to a more generous wage replacement variant, the study examines a simplified variant with a lump sum benefit that serves as a sensible alternative, since it entails fewer administrative burdens and lower overall costs. The benefit’s eligibility requirements are also flexibilized: Instead of a having to adhere to a fixed working-time requirement (base model), any parent whose working hours fall within the “corridor” of 28 to 32 hours per week is entitled to the benefits (corridor model). The corridor model increases the number of eligible recipients, and thus utilization rises somewhat more than it does with the base model; however, a corridor model would also come with higher costs.