Families and Patterns of Work: Paid and Unpaid Parental Leave in Two Parent Families

Abstract

In a two parent family the birth of a child often results in one parent moving out of paid work for some period of time. This absence from paid work can come about through the use of formal parental leave, resignation from a job, or because the parent already may not be in paid work through unemployment or alternatively because they are already at home looking after older children. Using 1991 census data this paper examines the paid work patterns of parents in the first five years of a child's life with a particular emphasis on the first 24 months. The paper analyses these patterns using a range of parental characteristics including gender, education, occupation and ethnicity. The paper then examines the effect the introduction of paid parental leave may have on some of these patterns using the experience of Sweden. In particular, there is a focus on whether paid leave increases the number of men in the role of primary caregiver in the early years of a child's life.