Work-family reconciliation policies between family-centered and work-centered approaches. A comparative analysis of two small and open economies: Slovenia and Latvia

Some economists claim that Central and Eastern European societies are converging towards the same welfare regimes and work-life reconciliation strategies (Bovenberg 2005), due to fiscal constraints faced by different transitions processes. This paper argues that greater attention is needed in the work-life field to how variation in cross-national contexts influences work-life-policies, practices, processes, and outcomes for individuals, families, businesses, and society. This paper traces the beginnings of regulation of the European Union work-life-directives and the agenda setting vis-a-vis individual member states. The European Commission has advocated a work-centered approach to work-family reconciliation. With reference to this context the authors of this paper argue that despite comparable points of departure Central and Eastern European societies diverge in their approaches to work-family reconciliation, despite budget constraints faced through transitions to capitalism and accession to the European Union. Evidence for this argument is given by a comparison of work-family reconciliation policies in two small open economies, with divergent fiscal leeway, Slovenia and Latvia. Empirical findings in the period between independence (1991) and 2007 confirm that countries implement a mix of welfare regime elements. Fiscal constraints indeed have an impact on work-family reconciliation policies. Rather than to distinguish solely between welfare regimes (Esping-Andersen 1990), a distinction between work-centered and family-centered reconciliation is invoked (Warth 2004). In the surveyed period Slovenia followed a work-centered approach and Latvia followed a family-centered approach to the work-life field