Enlarge image

Man with small child: Fathers could reduce working hours

Photo: Anastasiya Amraeva / Westend61 / IMAGO

Mothers and fathers know too well that desires and reality often do not match in family life. The balancing act between job and children is particularly difficult for many people in the so-called “rush hour of life” - the phase in which parents with young children are particularly burdened by family and work. An important reason is probably that ideals and reality often differ. This is shown by a new study by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB).

She dealt with the question of what ideals there are when it comes to dividing time between family work and paid work. The evaluation of the family demographic panel FReDA shows: The working hours considered ideal by the 18 to 49-year-old respondents for mothers with children aged 4 to 18 are several hours longer than their actual working hours.

For fathers with small children, however, those surveyed consider working fewer hours than actually worked to be ideal.

An alignment of parents' actual working hours in the direction of their respective ideals would not only result in a more balanced division of tasks in families, the researchers write.

Since the difference between ideals and reality is greater for mothers than for fathers, a corresponding redistribution would also offer potential for the labor market in times of skilled labor shortages.

Young children generally have the most time for care and upbringing; this decreases as the children get older. According to the study, this is also reflected in the working hours considered ideal for parents:

For mothers of two-year-old children it is on average 21.1 hours, for mothers of eight-year-olds it is 30.2 hours and for mothers of 18-year-olds it is even 36.6 hours, which corresponds to close to full-time employment.

According to those surveyed, fathers should work 34.5 hours for two-year-old children and 37.5 hours for eight-year-old children.

If you compare these numbers with reality, it turns out that fathers of small children work an average of 4.5 hours more than the average FReDA respondents imagine.

According to the researchers, if men had more time for family care in this phase of life, this would have far-reaching consequences: “On the one hand, this can help couples realize their desire to have children more often. At the same time, this strengthens equality between women and men by splitting caring time and working time more balanced," says study co-author Martin Bujard. This would also further promote the bond between fathers and their children and benefit mothers' career opportunities and income development.

Mothers of school children would find eight hours more working time per week ideal

When it comes to mothers' working hours, a gap grows between what the population considers to be ideal working hours and reality as children get older and the need for care lessens: for mothers with school-age children, eight hours per week are seen as ideal more than they actually work .

The researchers write that the results of the study are also of great importance for the labor market: "Adjusting the actual working hours to those perceived by those surveyed as ideal would have positive long-term effects for the labor market in view of the shortage of skilled workers," writes co-author Leonie Kleinschrot.

In order to achieve these effects, mothers could be better supported, especially in the phases in which children become more independent, in order to gradually achieve longer weekly working hours and further career steps if they themselves intend to do so, it said. This could also be helped if fathers in the “rush hour of life” reduced their working hours to part-time, close to full-time, and thus potentially had more time for the family.

mmq