Maternity leave policies , health , administrative data , regression discontinuity design
Abstract:
Exploiting unique German administrative data, we estimate the association
between an expansion in maternity leave duration from two to six months
in 1979 and mothers’ post-birth long-term sickness absence over a period of
three decades after childbirth. Using a regression discontinuity design, we
first show that the leave extension caused mothers to significantly delay their
return to work within the first year after childbirth. We then compare the
number and length of spells of long-term sickness absence of returned mothers
who gave birth before and after the change in leave legislation. Our findings
suggest that among those returned, mothers subject to the leave extension exhibit
a higher incidence of long-term sickness absence as compared to control
mothers. This also holds true after controlling for observable differences in
pre-birth illness histories. At the same time, there are no pronounced effects
on mothers’ medium-run labor market attachment following the short-run delay
in return to work, which might rationalize a negative causal health effect.
Breaking down the results by mothers’ pre-birth health status suggests that
the higher incidence of long-term sickness absence among the treated may be
explained by the fact that the reform has facilitated re-entry of a negative
health selection into the labor market.
Das Dokument wird vom Publikationsserver der Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim bereitgestellt.
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