Over 7,500 women have returned to work since 2007 and between them saved €7.5 million through a one-year income tax holiday for every child, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Dr Gonzi said family friendly measures were helping workers strike a balance between work and family life, even though they were taken up by just 10 per cent of public sector employees.

A total of 2,750 women and 540 men took advantage of family friendly measures in the public sector in 2009, he said.

Addressing a party round table conference as part of the party’s May 1 celebrations, Dr Gonzi said the government wanted more people to strike a balance between work and family life.

The public sector offered several such measures, he said, including teleworking, career breaks, reduced hours, child care centres and adoption leave. The government was proposing to increase adoption leave from five to 14 weeks.

“The world is changing. Technology, quality of life, work and family are constantly evolving and we must adapt to them,” he said.

With more people working and children being brought up by grandparents, there was a chance that the value of childhood would be lost, he warned.