The impact of parental leave on women`s carees and earnings – A literature review
The role of various child care leaves in the family gap in pay remains unclear. This survey on international literature sheds light on the impact of career interruptions due to the care of newborns on womens career and earnings development. Since there is no Finnish empirical evidence on this matter, this paper describes the results of research based on data from other Nordic countries as well as Germany and the UK. Career interruptions due to the care of newborns seem to have a negative effect on womens earnings. Parental leaves affect earnings negatively by having a depreciatory impact on womens level of human capital. This effect is, however, temporary. Having returned back to work, mothers work experience ac-cumulates and their earnings seem to catch up with the wage level of non-mothers in the long term. Part of the negative influence of various child care leaves can be explained by women self-selecting into sectors, where it is relatively easy to combine work and family, but where this has to be compensated by a more moderate wage level.
