Austria: Vienna quality of life study shows: job affects family

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A quarter of Viennese parents state that their work often or always has an adverse effect on family life. That is one of the results of a quality of life study carried out by the University of Vienna in cooperation with the city, the sub-area of ​​childcare was presented on Tuesday. Vienna stands out especially when it comes to caring for under-three-year-olds. There was praise for the quality of the care, criticism for the search for the right place.

The quality of life study is carried out at regular intervals; the last survey was carried out in 2013. For the current edition, 8,450 interviews were carried out from March to December 2018. All areas of life were queried - from living to leisure, culture and work to childcare and the compatibility of family and work. The latter area was the focus of today's presentation.

A lot of outside care in Vienna

The results show that childcare facilities are an important part of quality of life, it said. Many children in Vienna - far more than the Austrian average - are looked after institutionally. The main influencing factors for the likelihood that external care will be used are the age of the children and the employment of the parents, especially the mothers, explained Bernhard Riederer from the Institute for Sociology at the University of Vienna.

To this day, the federal capital has the highest rate of childcare for children under three years of age of all federal states. It is now just under 45 percent. "The City of Vienna has always been a pioneer in looking after children between the ages of zero and three," said Riederer. Incidentally, Styria brings up the rear with just over 15 percent. "In the school year 2018/2019 the proportion was lower than it was in Vienna in 1995." An interesting aspect on the side: in Vienna, almost nine out of ten children under the age of three cared for in day care centers are cared for all day.

Problem: Free places

For older children (three to six years old) there are only minor differences between the federal states in terms of the childcare rate. In Vienna, however, far more children stay all day and eat lunch in kindergarten. In general, one could say: Satisfaction with the childcare facilities in Vienna is high, as is the educational quality offered there, explained Raimund Haindorfer, also from the Institute for Sociology at the University of Vienna.

Meanwhile, the parents were less happy with the search for the appropriate childcare place for their offspring: "The availability was judged very poorly," said Haindorfer. In the area of ​​smaller children who need a daycare or childminder place, only 31 percent rated the situation as relatively easy. The search for a suitable kindergarten place turned out to be very good or good for only 56 percent. Haindorfer drew particular attention to one result: "23 percent of the parents gave a grade of five in the assessment of availability in the area of ​​daycare, daycare or the like. That is almost a quarter. I would say that this indicates a need for action. "

Flexible working hours are desirable

It is also interesting: at least 26 percent of those surveyed stated that their work very often, if not always, affects their family life. Meanwhile, ten percent find that their family life has a negative impact on their work. In-depth analyzes have shown that households with low incomes (equivalised income of less than 1,000 euros per month) are affected or if there are young children (under six years of age).

With regard to measures that could improve the compatibility of childcare and work, the respondents wanted flexibility above all - at work and in care. After all, 90 percent consider flexible working hours, for example, to be important, 88 percent see relief in a binding entitlement to a childcare place. Flexible opening times in the childcare facilities or childcare during the holidays are also considered to be very important. "Whereby women perceive all measures as clearly and statistically significantly more important than men," said Haindorfer.