Professional Project: Paid Leave Incidence Among New Mothers in OECD

This professional project investigates the impact of paid leave policies on the incidence of leave-taking among new mothers, focusing on OECD nations. The study examines the background, problem statement, research aims and objectives, and research questions to understand the influence of paid leave. It reviews existing literature on paid parental leave, earnings, employment, and the relevance of family leave policies. The methodology section describes the research philosophy, approach, design, data collection, and analysis methods. Findings, analysis, and discussion include regression discontinuity design, threats to identification, correlation, and results. The conclusion connects the findings with the aims and objectives, providing recommendations and acknowledging the limitations of the research. The study aims to assess the impact of various factors, including financial and non-financial issues, employment features, and demographics, on new mothers' decisions regarding leave-taking. The paper also explores the effects of paid leave on infant mortality rates and the employment outcomes of new mothers.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT
The impact of paid leave on the incidence of leave taking among new mothers: evidence
from OECD nations
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
This paper has been constructed in order to have an idea about the effect of paid leave
on the real incidence of the new mothers. The paper has explained the background of the
paper and how new mothers are in need of a leave after the born of their child. The research
aims and objectives explain the process with the help of which the paper would move ahead
and the literature explains the suggestions given by the earlier researchers. The data that have
been gathered from the selected participants would be helpful in determining the effect of
paid leaves on the new mothers. The final result and the recommendations that can improve
these scenarios are even discussed in this paper.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of the Study..................................................................................................4
1.2 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................4
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives.........................................................................................5
1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................................6
1.5 Summary..........................................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................7
2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................7
2.2 Paid Parental Leave..........................................................................................................7
2.3 Earnings and Employment...............................................................................................8
2.4 Relevance of Family Leave Policies................................................................................9
2.5 Prior Research on Leave Policies.....................................................................................9
2.6 Effect of policies on leave taking...................................................................................10
2.7 Effect of the policies on employment outcomes............................................................10
Chapter 3: Methodology..........................................................................................................11
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................11
3.2 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................11
3.3 Research Approach and the Source of the Data.............................................................11
3.4 Research Design.............................................................................................................12
3.5 Process of data collection...............................................................................................12
3.7 Data Analysis Method....................................................................................................12

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Chapter 4: Findings, Analysis and Discussion.........................................................................13
4.1 Regression Discontinuity Design...................................................................................13
4.2 Threats to the identification...........................................................................................14
4.3 Correlation......................................................................................................................14
4.4 Results and Discussions.................................................................................................15
4.4 Summary........................................................................................................................15
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation..........................................................................16
5.1 Conclusion (Connection with the aims and objectives).................................................16
5.2 Recommendations..........................................................................................................16
5.3 Limitations of the Research...........................................................................................17
Reference List..........................................................................................................................18
Appendix..................................................................................................................................22

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
The employee force that is existent throughout the world require leaves and holidays
in order to take some rest and get their mind of the job and refresh themselves. The
employees even require leaves due to health issues and therefore it is the responsibility of the
management of the companies to construct plans with the help of which the employees would
be receiving a definite number of leaves within a particular year (Ruhm, 2017). The women
workforce has been increasing with the advent of time and additional leaves are given to
them as well during the pregnancy and even for new mothers. The employees would even get
motivated if certain leaves would have been paid leaves. There are very few women globally
who have the access to have family leaves and even very few of them have the benefit of
having paid leaves. This has been an issue due to the increased participation of the labour
force and rise in the single parent family and the innumerable economic benefits and potential
health that is given by the family health to the children and their mothers who are even
employees (Baum, & Ruhm 2016). There are several countries that have federal policies
related to the paid leave to the new mothers and various countries have these leaves as unpaid
as well. This paper has specifically concentrated on the impact of paid leaves on the new
mothers in the OECD nations and therefore focus has been given on OECD nations like USA,
United Kingdom, Spain etc in order to have a clear idea about the what is the impact on the
paid leaves and the actions that have been taken in order to resolve any issues that are
persistent.
1.2 Problem Statement
New mothers require leaves more significantly than any other employees as during
this time the mother has to take care of their young children and even handle their own
health. This research paper has looked to evaluate the impact of paid leaves on the new

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mothers especially in the OECD nations and thereby the organizations operating in the
OECD nations would have an idea about the impact and the actions that can be taken with the
help of which the new mothers can be motivated. The survey data has addresses that there are
various coverage but the previous researches are ineffective in order to explain the leave
policies on the real incidence of the leave taking among the women employees. There has
been very few researches on the date of incorporation of the impact of the paid family leave
policies in OECD nations as these policies are quite new (Jou et al., 2017). The paper
therefore tries to address the impact of leaves and the actual incidence of the paid leaves on
the new mothers. It would even try to assess the impact of the other factors that can have an
influence on the decision of the women employees to apply for a leave after their child birth
on the aspect that she takes a leave due to the non-financial and financial issues and the
characteristics of the employment. The leaves play a vital role in the mind of the employees
and paid leaves given to the new mothers can improve their operational efficiency after they
join their organization post their leave (Avendano et al., 2015). The results of this paper will
be helpful for a developing literature in the impacts of the leave policies on the leave taking
attitude and thereby provide evidence of their positive impacts. This would recommend that
other countries and states can incorporate the paid leave policies. The outcome of this paper
would have the ability to inform policies that is constructed to give the women with the
assistance they require to care and work for their families.
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives
The aim and the objective of the research address the process and the factors that would
be taken into consideration in order to come out with an answer that would appropriate for
the paper. The research aims and objectives of the paper are as follows:
 Assess the impact of the other factors that potentially have an influence on the
decision of a woman to take a leave after the child birth

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 Assess the financial and the non-financial issues, the employment features, the
number of child she has and the demographic features of the employees.
1.4 Research Questions
The research questions would look to address the issues that have been identified and
therefore would try take the research ahead in order to address the issues. The research
questions in accordance to this topic is as follows:
Q1. What is the impact of the other factors that have a potential effect on the decision of a
new mother in taking a leave after the birth of their new-born?
Q2. What are the non-financial and financial issues and the employment features that
influences the amount of paid leaves for new mothers in OECD nations?
1.5 Summary
This section of the paper has therefore looked to assess the factor that is associated to
paid leaves. The concern about paid leaves is a concerning matter for most of the nations and
therefore assessments have been taken with the help of which the company is able to
construct policies related to paid leaves. The concern for this research paper has been impact
of paid leaves among the new mothers and so a critical level of assessments have been taken
with the help of which an understanding about the impact of paid leaves among the new
mothers can be understood. This section even determines the problem statement of the
research and even constructs the research aims and objectives and thereby is assisting in
taking the research forward. The research question is even constructed with the help of which
an understanding of the related variables can be understood.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This section of the paper tries to assess what other researchers have recommended in
accordance to the previous researches to the similar topics. The assessment of the previous
researches will be helpful in understanding the impact of paid leaves on the new mothers.
This report hence goes forward according to the ongoing and previous research on the
parental leaves in the low, middle and higher income nations. The report even moves ahead
on the new and innovative initiatives in order to assess all the relevant and precise data in
accordance to the length of the paid families and the paid leaves on the new mothers among
several nations that consists of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) with the assistance of in-depth assessment in accordance to the tenure
of the leave that would be suitable for the health of the infant and the health of the mother
distinctively (Adema et al., 2015). The paper would even undertake a systematic overview of
the social, health and economic effects of the paid leaves for the new mothers in OECD
which vastly assesses how the leave availability had an impact on the outcome of the health.
With the help of the assessments, this report is able to provide a summary of the evidences
for whether the paid leaves can enhance the child and health of the new mothers.
2.2 Paid Parental Leave
Anxo, & Ericson (2015) has cited that longer level of maternal leaves have the ability
to diminish the level of infant mortality in various nations within all the levels of income.
Currie, & Rossin‐Slater (2015) discovered that each extra month of the maternity leave that is
paid in nature are related to fall in the death of the infants. The fall in the level of infant
mortality related to the rise in the tenure of the paid maternity leaves were focused on the
period that is known as post-neonatal. These results are dependable with the earlier

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researches from the OECD nations and this has been discovered to be a relationship among
the substantial paid leave regulations and policies and lower level of infant mortality.
The two processes with the help of which paid leave can be lower than the lower level
of mortality are in this sense rising the duration and the initiation of taking care of their
infants and this has been one of the most efficient interventions of the infant health and
thereby assisting the ability of the mothers to make sure that their children receives vital
immunizations and other post-natal cares (Goodman, 2017).
The studies that have been undertaken it is seen that countries that have higher income
individuals recommend that more substantial paid leaves are related with the increased rates
of the immunizations that are one time. In a longitudinal examination of the OECD nations,
Heymann et al., (2017) have discovered no statistically vital association among the maternal
leave availability that looks for the job secured paid leaves and the leaves that are unpaid and
the rates of immunization within the initial years. There has been a positive relationship
among the fact that paid leaves can have an impact on the new mothers as it is seen that the
mother can increase their rate of immunization for their children.
2.3 Earnings and Employment
The substantial level of employment and benign working atmosphere is the basis for
health and is the main theme for the productive and full employment and attired work for all
men and women. The reliable level of employment with a sufficient amount of wage that
often provides the most effective course out of the poverty and aids the families to meet their
basic needs in an effective manner. Kalb, (2017) has expressed that paid leaves has been
related to the rise in the earnings of new mothers and their long term connexion to the
employment force. Kaufman, (2017) discovered that maternity leave availability was related
with the rise in the salaries for around 5 years among the mothers who have returned to work

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after a certain period of time after their child birth in the OECD nations. Kerr, (2016)
discovered that the incorporation of the 6 weeks of parental paid leave that complemented the
14 weeks for the post-birth leaves that is available to the mothers and this had a very little
impact on the earnings of the mothers, experience of work and the rate of employment.
2.4 Relevance of Family Leave Policies
A huge percentage of children in the OECD nations currently have been living in
households where all their parents are working. This transformation is mainly due to two
factors and they are the rise in the number of women especially mothers in the employment
force and growth in the number of families that is controlled by a single parent. The
participation of the labour force has risen more significantly among women who have
children under the age of one year (Mark Curtis et al., 2016). There has been a significant rise
in the single parent family and past researches has discovered that male employees take fewer
leaves than women and therefore a rise in the labour force participation of women has not
counter balanced by a rise in the amount of leave taken by the men. These patterns even
indicate that very few families are existent in which one parent is ready to stay at home and
thereby generating the demand to generate policies that permits the parents to efficiently
combine their family and work (Bartel et al., 2016). The family leave can have numerous
optimistic impacts on women and their children. The leaves are able to provide time for the
women employees to recover from the childbirth and even establish a connection with their
new born child. The studies have even indicated that maternity leaves have been able to
enhance the duration and the initiation of breastfeeding, increase the potentiality that the new-
born will receive the essential vaccinations and reduce the level of infant mortality.
2.5 Prior Research on Leave Policies
There has been very few researches till the current period assessing the impacts of the
federal and state family leave policies in various countries and the results that have been

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undertaken are mixed (Schönberg, & Ludsteck 2014). The researchers have investigated that
the impacts of the government leave strategies on the length and incidence of leave taking
and their impacts on the employment of the women, earnings and the continuation of the job
after their leave.
2.6 Effect of policies on leave taking
There have been numerous researches that have taken the benefit of the natural trials
established by the differentiation in the leave laws among the states in order to look into the
effect of state laws and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on the behaviour of leave
taking. Dahl et al., (2016) have employed a difference in difference methodology in order to
investigate the impact of leave legislation on the incidence of leave taking among women and
in which many states have increased the liberality of the leave laws and implementation of
FMLA.
2.7 Effect of the policies on employment outcomes
Hewitt et al., (2017) have disclosed no crucial impact of the federal and state leave
legislation in the maternal employment results. There have been certain assessments that have
been unable to identify the impact of leave laws in the maternal incomes but Carneiro et al.,
(2015) have discovered that FMLA had a vital negative impact on the salary of the women
based on the data from various sources. The impact of leave legislation on the continuation of
the job has even been investigated.

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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This section of the paper looks to discover the most suitable process with the help of
which the data required by the researcher can be collected. The methodology of the research
explains the process of gathering the data and the method of assessing the same with the help
of relevant outcome for the topic can be attained.
3.2 Research Philosophy
The research philosophy is a conviction about the process with the help of which the
data about the results can be gathered, assessed and utilised. The word epistemology explains
what is true in an opposition to the doxology that covers the several research approaches and
philosophies. The key philosophies consist of interpretivism, pragmatism, realism and
positivism (Adema et al., 2016). This paper therefore looks to make use of the positivism
philosophy as this paper would try to explain the impact of paid leaves and their incidence on
the new mothers who are employed.
3.3 Research Approach and the Source of the Data
The research approach explains the method that has been used by the researcher in
order to collect the data and the type of data that has been used in order to undertake the
research in an orderly and effective manner. The researcher has therefore exploited
qualitative data and qualitative data analysis with the help of which the information related to
paid leaves on new mothers can be identified. The source of the data associated with the topic
has been gathered from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which is the hub of collection
information and facts regarding any information associated with Australia. The figures
associated to paid leaves have been sourced organizational associated data from ABS and the