Career Interruptions due to Parental Leave - A Comparative Study of Denmark and Sweden

Elina Pylkkänen () and Nina Smith
Additional contact information
Elina Pylkkänen: University of Göteborg and the Ministry of Finance,, Postal: Ministry of Finance, Sweden, SE – 103 33 Stockholm,

No 04-1, Working Papers from University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics

Abstract: Parental leave mandates are associated with high female employment rates, but with reductions in

relative female wages if leave is of extended duration. We analyze the impact of family policies

(parental leave and childcare prices) of Denmark and Sweden on women’s career breaks due to

childbirth. These countries are culturally similar and share the same type of welfare state ideology,

but differ remarkably in pursued family policies. Our analysis takes advantage of the availability

of comparable longitudinal data and allows us to estimate parallel models across the two

countries. The impact of family policies and economic incentives on the probability of returning

to the labor market is estimated using a duration model approach. Our results show that

economic incentives affect the behavior of mothers in both countries. However, the parental

leave mandates as such are very important determinants for the observed behavior. Based on

policy simulations we find that if fathers were given more parental leave, it would promote the

labor supply of women.

Keywords: Maternal Leave; Parental Leave; Childcare; Family Policy; Mothers’ Labor Supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J10 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2004-05-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Career Interruptions Due to Parental Leave: A Comparative Study of Denmark and Sweden (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:aareco:2004_001

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