Work-Family Balance Policies

With increasing number of working parents, there are many obstacles for them to balance work and family life. In this paper, work-family balance policy is defined as “policy that supports the family life of working parents,” targeting working parents with children whose demand for a work-family balance policy is urgently needed. Under this definition, an international comparative research is conducted on related policies such as childcare, parental leaves, working time policy, and cash/tax benefit system. Also, empirical analyses are carried out to study the effects of work-family balance policy. Lastly, a work-family balance index was developed to measure each country’s situation. Based on the results above, several policy suggestions are provided.