Expansions in Maternity Leave Coverage and Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes after Childbirth

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Schoenberg, Uta; Ludsteck, Johannes
• 署名单位: University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/675078
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 469-505
• 关键词: career interruptions; EMPLOYMENT; FAMILY; IMPACT; legislation; welfare; birth

摘要

This article analyzes the impact of five major expansions in maternity leave coverage in Germany on mothers' labor market outcomes after childbirth. To identify the causal impact of the reforms, we use a difference-in-difference design that compares labor market outcomes of mothers who give birth shortly before and shortly after a change in maternity leave legislation in years of policy changes and years when no changes have taken place. Each expansion in leave coverage reduced mothers' postbirth employment rates in the short run. The longer-run effects of the expansions on mothers' postbirth labor market outcomes are, however, small.