Flexicurity from the Individual’s Work-Life Balance Perspective: Coping with the Flaws in European Child- and Eldercare Provision

Abstract

Based on a comparative analysis of work and care situations of employees with caring responsibilities in Finland, Portugal and the UK, this article argues that workers with eldercare responsibilities seem more likely to face difficulties than working parents, although many working parents also struggle to combine work and childrearing. The constraints such employees face in their daily lives due to caring responsibilities have significant implications for their flexibility and employability in the labour market — mainly because of inadequate care services and inflexible employers. However, such work—life balance constraints are rarely examined in most flexicurity studies and their effects on other forms of flexibility and security are therefore often overlooked. This article calls for a more nuanced concept of flexicurity, which takes the individual’s work—life balance perspective into consideration.