Self-reports are the most common way of measuring information and communications technology (ICT) skills in social surveys. Studies comparing self-reported computer skills with objective assessments have found evidence of significant overreporting of skills, but were conducted only among non-representative groups of individuals. This paper fills an important gap by analysing the degree to which ICT skills are overreported in the workingage population of Poland, and the potential causes of this behaviour. We compare answers to Eurostat questions on ICT usage with direct assessments of the corresponding tasks. The results suggest that those individuals who are most likely to possess ICT skills are also most likely to overreport having these skills. The propensity to overreport decreases with age and increases with years of education and numeracy level; women are less likely than men to overestimate their skills. The positive relationship between the probability of a group to overreport their own skills and their expected levels of skills suggests that social desirability bias may explain this phenomenon.

This paper presents a diagnosis of reconciliation of work and parenthood in Poland based on the data from the European Labour Force Survey ad hoc module “Reconciliation between work and family life” carried out in 2010. These data provide information on the following options of combining work with parenthood duties: (1) part-time work (2) flexible arrangements of working time (3) distance work. We compare the conditions for combining work with parenthood duties in Poland with opportunities observed in other European countries. We also show to what extent the conditions for reconciliation of work and parenthood in Poland have improved in time. We make an overview of legal regulations related to combining work with childcare duties and indicate the opportunities for improvement of these policies.

A person’s health status is one of the strongest determinants of well-being. The negative impact of poor health on subjective well-being may be moderated by providing care to individuals in need. In this paper, we investigate the relationships between receiving informal care and the amount of care received and subjective well-being among people aged 65 or older in selected European countries. Our analysis of data from the 6th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) showed that receiving regular informal care was associated with higher subjective well-being among older people in Northern European countries, and with lower subjective well-being among older males in Southern European countries. Moreover, we found that the perception of the amount of help received affected the subjective well-being of older people, as those who reported that the support they received was either insufficient or met their needs had lower subjective well-being than those who were not in need of care. Our results also showed that receiving formal care was negatively related with subjective well-being among older adults in Northern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. In the context of population ageing and the growing need for care, social policies that support both sides of the caregiving relationship could enhance subjective quality of life.