|
||||
|
||||
The Impact of Family-Friendly Policies in Denmark and Sweden on Mothers' Career Interruptions Due to Childbirth
Elina Pylkkänen Göteborg University; Ministry of Finance, Sweden Nina Smith University of Aarhus - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) March 2004 IZA Discussion Paper No. 1050 Abstract: We analyze the impact of family-friendly policies on women's career breaks due to childbirth in Denmark and Sweden. In both countries, the labour force attachment of mothers is high, and more than 90% of the women return to work after childbirth. Sweden and Denmark are culturally similar and share the same type of welfare state ideology, but differ remarkably in pursued family policies. The impact of family policy variables on the probability of returning to the labour market is estimated using a duration model approach. Our results show that economic incentives and leave periods of the fathers affect the behaviour of mothers in both countries. However, family policy instruments are found to have a much larger impact on Swedish mothers' behaviour compared to Danish women. We explain this finding by the fact that family-friendly policies in Sweden have focused much more on flexible leave schemes and on the shared responsibilities of the parents than in Denmark.
Keywords: family-friendly policy, maternal leave, paternal leave, childcare JEL Classifications: J1, J22 Working Paper SeriesDate posted: April 08, 2004 ; Last revised: September 02, 2004Suggested CitationContact Information
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
© 2009 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Policy
This page was served by apollo3 in 0.125 seconds.