The think tank the IPPR makes the recommendation in a report that shows that the number of unemployed women has now topped 1 million - 1,069,000 - and is at the highest level for 23 years. One third of women have been unemployed for more than a year.
An analysis of unemployment figures by the IPPR has also found that youth unemployment is also now at its highest since comparable records began in 1992, with 991,000 16-24-year-olds out of work.
The report is calling for the Government to guarantee a job on the minimum wage for everyone who has been unemployed for more than a year.
The report calls for the Government to reconsider its decision to reduce the amount of childcare support that can be claimed through the tax credit system and to integrate the childcare element of tax credits into the Universal Credit.
It proposes that bringing in a single, integrated funding system for childcare that merges tax credits and the tax relief provided by childcare vouchers.
The IPPR said this should be universal for all parents, but provide the most support for families on low incomes.
The report says that more Government support for childcare is needed if the UK is to eventually reach an employment rate of 80 per cent, which is the highest rate of employment in OECD countries.
‘Increasing the employment rate to 80 per cent will require a further significant step-up in the female employment rate in the UK. The current rate, 64.6 per cent, is well below the highest rates in Europe, which are found in Scandinavian countries – Norway (73.3 per cent), Denmark (71.1 per cent) and Sweden (70.3 per cent). This will only happen if there is a significant improvement in childcare provision in the UK,’ it says.
The report also criticises the Governmnt’s decision to cut support to low-income families through the childcare element of the working tax credit from 80 per cent to 70 per cent, which it says ‘can only act as an increased disincentive to work for parents, particularly mothers.’
The report concludes, ‘For parents with young children, childcare costs are a crucial element of the decision whether or not to seek work, and particularly whether or not both parents in couple families work. Unless the Government gets its support for childcare right, there is little prospect of the UK employment rate rising above 73 per cent in the long term. Unfortunately, it is currently headed in the wrong direction.’
