ECEC Uptake, Territorial Disparities and In-work Poverty in Italy: A Double Penalization?

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been increasingly considered as a potential policy tool to indirectly counteract labor market disadvantages. Never- theless, empirical studies have highlighted that very often ECEC is characterized by territorial and income disparities. This article investigates the combined effects of territorial and income dimensions on the working households’ probability of us- ing 0-2 ECEC services in Italy. More specifically, it answers three interlinked re- search questions: a) Is the probability of using ECEC in Italy affected by the de- gree of urbanization? b) Do in-work poor (IWP) families have a lower probabil- ity to use ECEC compared to above-average households? And, if this is the case, are IWP households living in non-urban areas penalized regarding the access to ECEC vis-à-vis those living in urban areas? And finally, c) does the combined pe- nalization triggered by the territorial and income dimensions occur in all the Ital- ian macro-areas (Centre-North and South) or can any differences be identified? Relying on 2010-2019 cross-sectional data from EU-SILC, the analysis shows that the territorial and income dimensions – and their combination – are relevant to understand to what extent not only households’ formal but even informal child- care uptake in Italy is characterized by a double penalization.