The increase in nursery places should allow women not to interrupt their careers after the birth of a child.

According to INSEE, the expected effect was not there and is "essentially nil". 

Putting children in the nursery has not really enabled women to stay in employment or find one.

According to a study, published Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (Insee), the increase in the number of places in nurseries in recent years has not had a significant effect on the employment of mothers of young children.

The institute puts forward allocation mechanisms often favoring parents who are already active.

5.3% of women have avoided a career break

Between 2000 and 2016, some 150,000 additional places were created in establishments for the reception of young children (EAJE).

However, this increase in the capacity of nurseries "has not significantly changed the situation of mothers of young children on the labor market," says INSEE in this study.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, which compared between 2007 and 2015 the figures for local employment (income, working time, career breaks) when a crèche was created and then once its places were filled, obtaining a place in a crèche has "at most 5.3% of mothers avoided a career break".

An "essentially zero" effect

By extrapolation, this represents, "8,000 mothers of young children" who "would thus have retained or found a professional activity in 2016, while they would have interrupted their career" without these new places, a figure to be compared with the 750,000 births annuals observed on average in recent years.

The "essentially zero" effect of obtaining a place in a crèche on the situation on the labor market can be explained, according to INSEE, by the allocation of places mainly to families in which mothers do not wish. interrupt their careers, and to families where both parents work.

If they had not benefited from a place in a collective establishment, these families would then have switched to another type of childcare: home childcare, maternal assistant, etc.

The preference for a collective childcare system is however visible, the increase in the number of places in crèche between 2007 and 2015 having sharply reduced the requests for a maternal assistant or home care.

However, this had no effect on requests for parental leave, which remained stable over the same period, underlines INSEE.