The ILO Care Policy Investment Simulator is a web-based policy modeling tool developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The tool can be used to simulate and calculate the investment requirements in four care policy areas: childcare-related paid leave (maternity, paternity and individual parental leave for mothers and fathers); paid breastfeeding breaks; early childhood care and education services (ECCE); and long-term care services (LTC) and the related employment and gender equality benefits for 82 countries. It builds on over 180 statistical indicators.
Using the online simulator is free, easy, and straightforward. Users are required to sign up with a valid email address.
Once in the system, based on their choice users can select a series of policy parameters for each of the four care policy areas for the period (2035 or 2050). Customization is allowed to some extent- users chose from a set of already built-in/inputted data. Inside the tool, the user will see the default policy parameters as those of the ILO scenario corresponding to the selected year and can modify each parameter within a list of predetermined options. The policy parameters selected enable the tool to calculate the annual public investment required for each policy, and the resulting employment, earnings, and fiscal effects.
Costing approach: Macro-simulation
Platform and Format : Web-based
Type of analysis: Prospective
What questions does it answer?
simulate the annual investment costs and potential employment creation
Purpose
The tool enables users to carry out a cost-benefit analysis for planning, budgeting and policy and legal reforms. The benefits modelled are the investment’s short-term employment and earning effects, especially in terms of closing gender employment and wage gaps, and the resulting annual fiscal revenue. For some policies, the tool also estimates a long-term return on investment (ROI), which is the increase in GDP (measured in US$) per dollar spent on early childhood care and education and paid childcare-related leave.
The simulator is now accompanied by a step-by-step ILO care policy investment simulator: Technical note which was published in March 2023.
Language: English, French, and Spanish