@article{61ce9f7c549249bbae3bf78237fe74a0,
title = "Maternity rights and mothers' return to work",
abstract = "This paper uses a cohort of 12,000 births to examine the effect of maternity rights on mothers' post-birth return to employment decisions. It uses a discrete hazard model to disentangle the effects of the terms of maternity rights entitlements from other factors that influence the timing of a mother's return to work. Mothers with rights have an underlying (but unobserved) stronger attachment to the labour market that prompts earlier return than on average. We take this into account by estimating a counterfactual distribution of return times using a sample of women who failed to qualify for maternity rights but who have similar levels of labour market attachment. Even when differential attachment is taken into account there remains a substantial impact of maternity rights on behaviour.",
keywords = "Maternity rights, Return to work",
author = "Simon Burgess and Paul Gregg and Carol Propper and Elizabeth Washbrook",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the Department for Education and Skills for financial support on this project. We would like to thank Marten Lindeboom, Richard Smith, Frank Windmeijer and participants at a CMPO internal seminar for comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply. We are extremely grateful to all the mothers who took part and to the midwives for their cooperation and help in recruitment. The whole ALSPAC Study Team comprises interviewers, computer technicians, laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers and managers who continue to make the study possible. The ALSPAC could not have been undertaken without the financial support of the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, UK government departments, medical charities and others. The ALSPAC study is part of the WHO initiated European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood. ",
year = "2008",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1016/j.labeco.2005.05.010",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
pages = "168--201",
journal = "Labour Economics",
issn = "0927-5371",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
number = "2",
}