This section is intended to guide public authorities in the understanding of their context and in the identification of possible objectives for potential PHS measures. The table below gathers the questions that must be raised while the pertinence of possible objectives of PHS measure is considered according to the national/local situation. Answering these questions will help public authorities to identify whether one of the standard PHS objectives is accurate, given the national/local specific situation. A public authority should select the main objective(s) for the PHS policy on the basis of these questions.
More specifically, the table provides two types of information:
- Firstly, it presents the key questions to be raised with regard to understanding whether a specific objective might be accurate given the local situation. As indicated in the table, these questions consider both needs and potential. The potential indicates whether the objectives might indeed theoretically be reached given the context or, alternatively, whether additional objectives will have to be pursued in parallel in order to achieve the initial objective.
- Then the table states some implications as concerns potential objectives, on the basis of the answers that the authority might provide.
Table 2 : Identifying possible main objectives
| Questions to be raised |
Implications |
- Is there a potential need for employment creation in my country/area?
- What is the unemployment rate?
- What is the unemployment rate of specific groups by:
- Level of education (e.g. low-qualified)?
- Gender (e.g. women)?
- Duration of unemployment (e.g. long-term)?
- Is there potential for employment creation by implementing PHS measures in my country/zone?
- Is there potential demand for formal PHS? Under what conditions will this demand be effective?
- Is the current quality of PHS jobs attractive enough or is an improvement in working conditions also needed to attract workers?
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- If the unemployment rate is considered too high and if the authority sees potential for reducing it via PHS, creation of employment might be a key objective for the measure.
- Moreover, if some specific groups are particularly suffering from high unemployment rates, targeting employment creation for those groups (e.g. women, individuals with low educational levels) should be considered.
- To define job creation as an explicit objective, it should be ensured that this objective can indeed be . In that perspective , the public authority must ensure as it implements relevant measures that PHS providers will indeed foster and be able to support employment creation. If not, fostering PHS activities might also become an explicit objective of the measure.
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- Is there a potential need to reduce undeclared PHS work in my country?
- Is there a large undeclared market for PHS? What is the share of undeclared PHS in the total PHS provided?
- Does the provision of undeclared services imply significant tax losses and/or threaten the working conditions/social protection of workers?
- What is the price of the services provided by the undeclared PHS market? Does the price of PHS on the undeclared market differ widely from the price in the formal PHS market?
- How is the undeclared market perceived in your country (social acceptance, etc.)?
- Is there potential for effectively reducing the undeclared PHS market by implementing PHS measures in my country?
- Do you think reducing the price would contribute effectively to tackling undeclared services or are other measures also needed (communication, etc.)?
- Do you think social habits could be changed?
- Do you think the formal supply is mature enough to support services formerly provided through undeclared work?
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- In the event that the undeclared market is deemed too important (size) or too damaging (tax losses, working conditions), reducing it would be a relevant objective, in case the potential to reduce it does exist.
- Reducing the undeclared market might indeed be an objective, if identified mechanisms can fight it.
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- Is there a potential need to create and/or foster the PHS activities in my country?
- What is the current number of PHS providers? What is the (annual) growth rate of the number of (formal) PHS providers?
- What is the profile of the current PHS providers (private companies, etc.)?
- Who are the current users of such services (profile, etc.)?
- Are the services accessible (location dispersed around the country)?
- What is your judgement of the administrative burden of the demand and provision of services (documents to fill in, payments, etc.)?
- What is the price of the services? Is there a large difference between the price of these services and the undeclared market price? Are the services affordable?
- Are the services good quality? Are users satisfied with the services?
- What is your judgement of the degree of professionalisation of the services (trainings, etc.)?
- Is there potential for fostering/creating PHS activities by implementing PHS measures in my country?
- Do you think the market has room for new entries/improvements (i.e. that it is not too mature, in the sense there are enough services providers for the current demand)?
- Do you think the potential demand is potentially large enough to support the entry of new organizations?
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- When answers to those questions indicate a low number of companies, a lack of quality, etc., PHS activities need to be developed/supported.
- The objective of creating/fostering PHS activities is relevant when potential demand might follow. In that respect, it is important to evaluate whether potential demand does exist.
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- Is there a potential need to improve access to childcare in my country?
- What is the activity rate of women?
- The enrolment rate of children (achievement of Barcelona targets)
- What is the price of childcare services?
- Are childcare services accessible?
- What is the quality of childcare services like?
- Are there significant inequalities (of revenues, educational achievement, etc.) according to the income/educational level of parents?
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If the answers to these questions generally indicate that current childcare services / facilities do not meet needs, improvement of accessibility to childcare could be considered an objective of the measure. |
- Is there a potential need to improve access to elderly care/long-term care/care for people with disabilities in my country?
- What is the dependency rate?
- What is the current and future age structure of the population like?
- What are the prices of different LTC services?
- Are elderly care services/care services for people with disabilities accessible?
- Is the current long-term care system sustainable (in terms of funding) given the current age structure of the population?
- What is the quality of elderly care services/care services for people with disabilities like?
- What types of services are provided?
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„If the answers to these questions generally indicate that the current elderly care/care for people with disabilities does not meet needs, improvement of accessibility of elderly care could be considered an objective of the measure. |
- Is there a potential need to improve gender equality and better work-life balance for users in my country?
- How satisfied are households with their work-life balance (WLB)?
- What is the main reason for women being inactive?
- What is the share of personal household work that is performed by women (versus men) at home?
- What is the share of single-parent households?
- What is the share of bi-active households?
- Is there potential for effectively improving gender equality and WLB by implementing PHS measures in my country?
- Is it possible that supply will meet the needs of users?
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- If the work-life balance results are particularly alarming, the female inactivity rate is particularly high and/or the structure of households is making it difficult for parents to balance their work and private life, this could clearly be an objective.
- When considering improving work-life balance through the implementation of PHS,PHS supply must be sure to meet the potential increase in the demand for PHS.
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- Is there a potential need to improve working conditions for PHS workers in my country?
- Is there a large undeclared PHS market?
- What is the quality of PHS jobs in the formal market like?
- Wages, working time, protection, status, training etc.
- What is the turnover in the sector?
- Are PHS jobs attractive (in comparison to other types of work)?
- Do PHS workers have access to representatives (i.e. through labour unions)?
- Do PHS workers have access to training?
- Is there potential to improve working conditions by implementing PHS measures in my country?
- Does the current structure of the PHS market produce improvements in working conditions or is it necessary to change that structure?
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- Answers to these questions will help to determine whether there is a need to improve the working and employment conditions of PHS workers: if there is a wide undeclared market and/or a lack of professionalisation and good quality jobs can be identified in the formal market, this objective might be relevant. As already explained, good quality in PHS jobs is key to further developing the sector and increasing its attractiveness at the same time.
- Once the need to further develop working conditions is identified, its feasibility in the current framework/system must be assessed. If not, a total redesign of the sector must be considered (triangulation, etc. – see below).
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