Return to work after childbirth: does parental leave matter in Europe?

This paper investigates the role of the extended parental leave in the return to work for mothers of newborn children. Exploiting the variability in policies offered by the European countries, the paper studies the influence of statutory leave characteristics—length of the job-protection and payments during the leave-period—on the hazard of returning to work at different ages of the child. Results suggest that longer periods of job-protection increase the hazard of returning to work; on the other hand, providing paid leaves increases the probability of remaining at home during the first year of life of the child.