Childcare and Labour Markets: What Makes Social Investment?

Childcare policies are seen as a strategic component of the Social Investment (SI) paradigm. Expansion in this social policy field –quantified as an increase in public spending and coverage rates- is often taken as an indication of a wider attempt to reformulate welfare states’ intervention through a SI approach. By reflecting on the relationship between labour market structures and public policy   (Estevez-Abe et al. 2001; Morgan 2005) this paper aims to assess the development of ECEC in Italy and Spain since the early 1990s in relation to the quality of the provision and the conditions of the workforce. We compare the universalistic pre-school education (3-6) and childcare services for the under 3s, Given strong labour market segmentation and different degrees of enforcement of public regulation in the two sectors, a sharp divide exists within ECEC provision in line with the notion of primary and secondary markets. We therefore conclude that despite the fact that there has been an overall expansion of ECEC in both countries, only policy developments in pre-school education can be seen as conforming with the principles of a Social Investment strategy whilst an evident trade off between coverage and quality of provision exists for childcare services for very young children.