Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA.
U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, VA, USA.
Demography. 2022 Apr 1;59(2):787-812. doi: 10.1215/00703370-9816044.
This study exploits changes in paid maternity leave offered by one of the United States' largest employers, the Department of Defense, to estimate the effect of such policies on mothers' leave-taking. Since 2015, the U.S. Marine Corps has shifted its maternity leave policy from 6 to 18 to 12 weeks. Leave expansions increased leave duration, whereas contractions decreased leave taken by active-duty service members. However, the policy changes crowded out other forms of leave: with an increase in maternity leave available, mothers increased use of maternity leave and stopped supplementing with additional annual leave. Although all mothers used the full 6 weeks of leave in the early period, it is the less advantaged mothers-those in the enlisted ranks, first-time mothers, and single mothers-who disproportionately used more of the additional leave than officers, experienced mothers, and married mothers. Pregnant officers, experienced mothers, and single women used less leave than nonpregnant women in the months leading up to birth, but expecting additional post-birth leave did not change average pre-birth leave-taking. Our results highlight the importance of optimally sizing family leave policies and provide evidence that the true cost of such programs may be lower than the raw count of weeks provided by additional maternity leave allowances.
本研究利用美国最大雇主之一——国防部提供的带薪产假政策的变化，来估计此类政策对母亲休产假的影响。自 2015 年以来，美国海军陆战队将其产妇假政策从 6 周延长至 18 周，再延长至 12 周。休假时间的延长增加了休假时间，而休假时间的缩短则减少了现役军人的休假时间。然而，政策的变化却排挤了其他形式的休假：随着可享受的产假时间增加，母亲们增加了产假的使用，并停止用额外的年假来补充。尽管所有母亲在早期都使用了完整的 6 周假期，但那些处于 enlisted ranks（入伍等级）、初产妇和单身母亲的劣势母亲，比军官、有经验的母亲和已婚母亲更不成比例地使用了更多的额外假期。在分娩前的几个月里，怀孕的军官、有经验的母亲和单身女性比未怀孕的女性休假时间更少，但期望额外的产后休假并不会改变平均产前休假时间。我们的研究结果强调了优化家庭休假政策的重要性，并提供了证据表明，此类计划的真正成本可能低于额外产假津贴所提供的周数的原始计数。
