However, once total social spending and working-age unemployment were accounted for, the effects of the minimum income protection indicator were no longer statistically significant. Social spending was associated with lower risks of child poverty at the start of the crisis only, when many European countries implemented fiscal stimulus packages, while unemployment had large effects on both poverty and deprivation throughout the entire period 2008-2012. This suggests that social safety nets and social spending did not shield children from the effects of labour market turbulence during the Great Recession.