Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282682 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16555
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates how firms and workers respond to a voluntary government-funded program increasing the duration of paid maternity leave from four to six months in Brazil. We show that larger, higher-paying, and more productive firms are more likely to provide extended leaves to workers. Exploiting the gradual implementation of extended leave across firms and the exact time of leave-taking, we present four key findings. First, we find an incomplete take-up of 35 percent among eligible workers, largely driven by those with high socioeconomic status. Second, firms and workers strategically defer job separations to extract rents from the government. Third, extended leave has no long-term impact on maternal labor market outcomes. Fourth, job security and information transmission about leave extensions boost take-up and reduce deferred job separations. The results illustrate that distributional concerns can justify the mandated provision of extensions in paid maternity leave.
Subjects: 
maternity leave
labor market
social protection
JEL: 
J13
J22
J32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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