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Can Family Policy Reduce Mothers’ Sick Leave Absence? A Causal Analysis of the Norwegian Paternity Leave Reform

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Abstract

This paper was motivated by the high absentee rate due to sickness among women and the assumption that mothers’ combination of gainful employment and family obligations may results in higher levels of sick leave absence. One popular policy used in Norway to encourage more equal sharing of domestic work between parents is paternity leave. Using Norwegian register data, we took advantage of the introduction of a Norwegian paternity leave reform in 1993 to empirically examine the importance of fathers’ involvement in childcare an attempt to explain the relationship between mothers’ stress in reconciling their work and family life and sick leave absence. Sick leave absence was measured in the number of days paid by the National Insurance Administration at 15 days and above. The reform raised the total leave period by 7 weeks, but reserved 4 weeks for the father. The reform process was fast, so all mothers were already pregnant at the time of the policy announcement. The results indicate that we can reject an effect of the paternity leave reform on mothers’ sick leave absence.

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Notes

  1. Double burden is measured as the number of children and new births in the period.

  2. Up to a limit of 6 times the basic amount, although many employers compensate for the remaining part.

  3. In fact, parents could choose to take either the 42 weeks with full compensation or 52 weeks with 80 % earnings compensation. Note that the choice between taking a shorter period with full coverage or a longer period with less coverage has been available since 1989 and was not a new feature of this reform.

  4. The right to parental leave is contingent on the child’s mother having worked at least half-time during six out of the last 10 months before the child’s birth.

  5. The Basic Amount is calculated based on changes in the general price level, in accordance with the National Insurance Act. According to the applicable regulations, this is specified by changes in the Consumer Price Index and is set for a full calendar year. Most of the benefits from the National Insurance Scheme are related to the basic amount adjusted by the Parliament on May 1 each year. The basic amount is used as a basis for the calculation of basic benefits, supplementary pensions and supplements for Spouse and Children.

  6. The basic amount in 1992 was 36500 NOK/6233 USD. This amount is adjusted annually in accordance with changes in the general income level.

  7. As we do not perfectly observe eligibility status, we rely on parents’ income histories in the year before the child was born. We operate with different restrictions for mothers and fathers, as women have lower wages. The restrictions are based on the official estimated average monthly earnings of full-time wage and salary earners in 1992 from Statistic Norway (men: 19372 NOK/3325 USD, women: 15704 NOK/2696USD). This restriction may not correspond to all half-time working parents, but a stronger restriction would result in a biased sample among non-treated and treated groups because information on income is on an annual basis. Mothers who gave birth after the reform thus have fewer days for the income calculation.

  8. Applying an OLS conditional on having any sick days for the intensive margin does not alter any of the conclusions of this article (Appendix 2).

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Acknowledgments

The paper has benefited from comments by seminar participants at Norwegian Social Reasearch (NOVA) and Institute for Social Research (ISF). I would also like to thank Oddbjørn Raaum, Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund, Andres Kotsadam and the anonymous reviewers for useful comments.

Appendix 1 Number of future children between all mothers who had a child just before and just after the paternity leave reform
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Appendix 2 Mothers’ days on sick leave 1996–1997
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  1. Norwegian Social Research, P. O. Box 3223, Elisenberg, 0208, Oslo, Norway

    Elisabeth Ugreninov

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Correspondence to Elisabeth Ugreninov.

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Ugreninov, E. Can Family Policy Reduce Mothers’ Sick Leave Absence? A Causal Analysis of the Norwegian Paternity Leave Reform. J Fam Econ Iss 34, 435–446 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9344-x

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