The Response of Firms to Maternity Leave and Sickness Absence

Ian M. Schmutte and Meghan M. Skira

No 1101, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: We study how firms respond to predictable, but uncertain, worker absences arising from maternity and non-work-related sickness leave. Using administrative data on over 1.5 million spells of leave in Brazil, we identify the short-run effects of a leave spell starting on firms' employment, hiring, and separations. Firms respond immediately by increasing hiring, but the increase is substantially less than one-for-one replacement. Hiring responses are more pronounced for absences arising in occupations with more transferable skills and in firms operating in thicker labor markets. Overall, our results imply that using external markets is costly and firms manage absences through other channels.

JEL-codes: J13 J21 J23 J63 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Response of Firms to Maternity Leave and Sickness Absence (2022)
Working Paper: The Response of Firms to Maternity Leave and Sickness Absence (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1101

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