How Does Job‐Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers’ Employment?
利用加拿大法定带薪产假政策的引入和扩展，发现短期产假（17-18周）不影响母亲产后休假时长，但较长产假显著增加休假时间，且所有产假都提高了返回原雇主工作的可能性。
We examine the impact of maternity leaves on the period mothers are away from work postbirth and the likelihood they return to their prebirth employer. We use the introduction and expansion of statutory job-protected maternity leave entitlements in Canada to identify these effects. We find that modest leave entitlements of 17-18 weeks do not change the amount of time mothers spend away from work. In contrast, longer leaves do have a substantive impact on behavior, leading to more time spent at home. We also find that all entitlements we examined increase job continuity with the prebirth employer. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago.