Politike usklađivanja obiteljskih obaveza i plaćenog rada i položaj roditelja na tržištu rada.

New challenges that welfare states cope with brought to changed priorities in the area o f social policies and the growing promotion o f the dual-breadwinner model in European countries. As patterns o f behaviour o f men and women in the labour market are not just a reflection o f the economic situation, the cultural context and individual beliefs, but also of the existing institutional arrangements in the area o f social policies, work-family policies are becoming increasingly important and the area o f growing intervention in many countries. Variations in work-family policies and economic activity, and the characteristics o f the employment o f parents in European countries bring the issue o f their effect on the outcomes ofparents at the labour market in the focus o f interest o f political and scientific debates, and efforts have been particularly made to answer the question which schemes o f work-family policies really contribute to larger employment rates o f parents and thenbetter outcomes at the labour market, which is the central question o f this paper as well. After a brief insight into the position o f parents at the labour market in EU countries, particularly focusing on the gender differences and the differences between parents and childless individuals, the paper presents a detailed review o f the results o f the research dealing with the effects o f different institutional context, i.e. work-family policies, on the outcomes o f the parents at the labour market. The final part o f the paper contains a brief discussion about the implications o f the presented results o f comparative studies on the situation and the development o f measures in the area o f work-family policies in Croatia, which clearly indicate the needfor reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]