abstract: 'Comparative welfare state research as examined the outcomes of active

  labour market policies (ALMP) and work-family reconciliation policies by

  and large been separately. As a result, potential complementarities

  between these policy areas have received scant attention empirically.

  Using macro-level data, this study answers the question to what extent,

  and in which way, governments'' efforts in ALMP and in early childhood

  education and care (ECEC) services are complementary to each other in

  promoting women''s employment rates and reducing women''s unemployment and

  inactivity rates in 30 OECD countries from 1985 to 2018. The article

  theorises about how the various policies that constitute a welfare state

  relate to each other, distinguishing between pluralism, complementarity

  and substitutability. These findings provide support for the notion of

  welfare pluralism, in the sense that ALMP and ECEC policies work

  together in improving women''s employment rates in slightly different

  ways: ALMP achieve this through reducing women''s unemployment rates,

  whereas ECEC also achieve lower inactivity rates for women. There was,

  however, more support for the notion of substitution rather than

  complementarity: the marginal benefits associated with an increase in

  either ALMP or ECEC were smaller in the context of large investments in

  the other policy. In other words, the highest rates of women''s

  employment, and the lowest rates of unemployment and inactivity, are

  found in countries with large investments in both ALMP and ECEC, but

  such higher investments are associated with diminishing returns.'
affiliation: 'Nieuwenhuis, R (Corresponding Author), Stockholm Univ, Swedish Inst
  Social Res SoFI, Stockholm, Sweden.

  Nieuwenhuis, Rense, Stockholm Univ, Swedish Inst Social Res SoFI, Stockholm, Sweden.'
author: Nieuwenhuis, Rense
author-email: rense.nieuwenhuis@sofi.su.se
author_list:
- family: Nieuwenhuis
  given: Rense
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1111/spol.12806
earlyaccessdate: MAR 2022
eissn: 1467-9515
files: []
issn: 0144-5596
journal: SOCIAL POLICY \& ADMINISTRATION
keywords: 'active labour market policy (ALMP); early childhood education and care

  (ECEC); international comparison of welfare regimes; public policy;

  women''s employment'
keywords-plus: 'LABOR-MARKET POLICY; FAMILY POLICIES; INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEMENTARITIES;

  INEQUALITY; GENDER; SKILL; CARE; CHILDREN; POVERTY; MATTER'
language: English
month: SEP
number: '5'
number-of-cited-references: '64'
orcid-numbers: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/0000-0001-6138-0463
pages: 808-826
papis_id: 502ca16c3c68a124786685e2ba7ba3e5
ref: Nieuwenhuis2022noactivation
researcherid-numbers: Nieuwenhuis, Rense/B-4986-2013
times-cited: '5'
title: No activation without reconciliation? The interplay between ALMP and ECEC in
  relation to women's employment, unemployment and inactivity in 30 OECD countries,
  1985-2018
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000762321900001
usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
usage-count-since-2013: '8'
volume: '56'
web-of-science-categories: Development Studies; Public Administration; Social Issues;
  Social Work
year: '2022'