How to assess European leave policies regarding their compliance with an ideal leave model

By Helene DearingVienna University of Economics and Business (WU)

Institute for Social Policy

Presented at the 11th seminar of the International Network on Leave Policies and Research

18 September 2014

Definitions

Parental Leave

= maternity, paternity, parental and child care leave = “leave”

well-paid leave ≠ total leave (paid and unpaid)

Gender Equality in the Division of Labour

= men and women contribute equally to employment and family work, on average (Fraser (1997), Crompton (1999), Gornick and Meyers (2003))

Previous Literature

Policy Typologies:Haas (2003) & Wall (2007)

Fuzzy-Set Analysis:Haas and Rostgaard (2011) & Ciccia and Verloo (2012)

Composite Indicators:Gornick and Meyers (2003), Ray et al. (2010), Javornik (2014)

Motivation

Comparison with an ideal model because of……trend towards standardization …inverted U-shaped effects

Methodological Approach

Stage 1:• Defines ideal leave model• Develops EGDL indicator that measures degree

of compliance (EGDL = „Equal Gender Division of Labour“)

Stage 2:• Sensitivity analysis with regard to assumptions

that cannot be based on empirical evidence

Empirical Literature I…with regard to the effects of leave on mothers’ employment:

1. The duration of total leave positively affects employment participation and working hours (inverted U-shaped effect)(Akgunduz and Plantenga (2012), Genre et al. (2010), Pettit and Hook (2005), Misra et al. (2011))

2. The duration of total leave negatively affects wages, occupational segregation and job-related training (Akgunduz and Plantenga (2012), Lalive and Zweimüller (2009), Puhani and Sonderhof (2011))

3. The duration of paid leave negatively affects return to work(Grunow et al. (2011), Ronsen and Sunström (2002), Ondrich et al. (2003), Lalive and Zweimüller (2009) Bergemann and Riphahn (2011)Pronzato (2009), Lapuerta et al. (2011))

Empirical Literature II

…with regard to the effects of leave on fathers’ family work:

1. Introduction of a fathers’ quota positively affects their parental leave take-up(Duvander and Johansson (2012), Ekberg et al. (2013))

2. Provision of payments positively affects fathers’ parental leave take-up(Pull and Vogt (2010), Lapuerta et al. (2011))

Data

• Annual report of the Leave Network (Moss 2013)

• Focus on 27 European countries

• Variables of interest:– Duration of total leave (paid and unpaid)– Duration of well-paid leave (paid at above 66% of average income)– Share of well-paid leave reserved for fathers

Index on duration of total leave I

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Index capturing the effect of total leave duration on the gender division of labour

Total leave duration in months

"Moderate" duration of leave(= 14 months)

Maximal duration of leave (= 49 months)

Minimalduration of leave (= 0 months)

Index on duration of total leave IISource: Author’s analysis based on data provided by Moss (2013)

Switzerland

Denmark

Luxembourg

SloveniaItaly

Netherlands

Iceland IrelandSweden

GreeceUK

Austria

NorwayBelgium

Czech Rep.

France

Germany

Portugal

Russia

Slovakia

Spain

Hungary EstoniaLithuania

CroatiaFinland

Poland0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Index values

European Countries

Index based on the duration of total leave

Index on duration of well-paid leaveSource: Author’s analysis based on data provided by Moss (2013)

Slovakia

UK

AustriaLuxembourg

Russia

Netherlands

SwitzerlandBelgium

ItalyFrance

Spain

Croatia

Greece

Ireland

Portugal

Iceland

FinlandDenmark

Slovenia Poland

NorwaySweden

Germany

Estonia

Czech Rep. Hungary

Lithuania0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Index values

European countries

Index based on the duration of well-paid leave

Index on fathers’ leaveSource: Author’s analysis based on data provided by Moss (2013)

AustriaCroatia

GreeceIreland

ItalyLuxembourg

NetherlandsRussia SlovakiaSwitzerland Czech Rep.

HungaryEstonia

LithuaniaPoland

Slovenia

Denmark

Spain

FranceBelgium

GermanySweden

Finland Norway

Portugal

CroatiaIceland

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Index values

European countries

Index based on the share of well-paid leave reserved for fathers

Baseline EGDL indicator

Baseline EGDL indicator =(index of total leave

+ index of well-paid leave+ index of fathers’ leave)

/ 3

EGDL indicator values range between 0 and 1 for each country

….indicating the compliance with the ideal leave model

Baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Baseline EGDL indicator

0,00

0,20

0,40

0,60

0,80

1,00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Methodological Approach

Stage 1:• Define ideal leave model: 14 months of well-paid

leave, half reserved for fathers• Develop EGDL indicator that measures degree of

compliance (EGDL = „Equal Gender Division of Labour“)

Stage 2:• Sensitivity analysis with regard to different

assumptions

Sensitivity Analysis I

….regarding the assumption of an ideal duration of 14 months of leave

Assuming 12 months as ideal:• Changes little in group composition• Denmark moves up to high EGDL scoring countries

Assuming 16 months as ideal:• Changes little in group composition

Sensitivity Analysis II

Mother-centred EGDL indicator =( 2 (index of total leave * index of well-paid leave)

+ index of fathers’ leave)/ 3

…assumes that it is most important to combine total leave with payments

Sensitivity Analysis II

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

DUR = 5DUR =…

DUR =…DUR =…

DUR =…

DUR =…

DUR =…

DUR =…

DUR =…

Duration of well-paid leave

Values of combined

index

Duration of total leave

Index capturing the effects of a combination of total and well-paid leave

The mother-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for the share reserved for the father

Index accounting for the combination of the durationof total and well-paid leave

highlowvery low medium

The mother-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for the share reserved for the father

Index accounting for the combination of the durationof total and well-paid leave

highlowvery low medium

The mother-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00Mother-centred EGDL indicator, broken down into single indices

Index accounting for the share reserved for the father

Index accounting for the combination of the durationof total and well-paid leave

highlowvery low medium

The baseline EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00Baseline EGDL indicator, broken down into single indices

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

mediumvery low low high

Sensitivity Analysis III

Father-centred EGDL indicator =(index of total leave + index of well-paid leave)

+ 2 (index of fathers’ leave))/ 4

…assumes that it is most important to provide father’s quotas

Father-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

very low low highmedium

Father-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

very low low highmedium

Father-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

very low low highmedium

Father-centred EGDL indicator

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Index accounting for share reserved for the father

Index accounting for duration of well-paid leave

Index accounting for duration of total leave

very low low highmedium

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Robustness of EGDL results

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

baseline EGDL scores

"opt = 12" EGDL scores

"opt = 16" EGDL scores

mother-centred EGDL scores

father-centred EGDL scores

Conclusions

• How to assess leave policies regarding their compliance with an ideal leave model?

• Possible as an assessment in two stages:– Stage one: defines ideal model and develops EGDL

indicator– Stage two: provides sensitivity analysis

• Allows us to study the robustness of EGDL results