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The effect of prenatal maternity leave on short and long-term child outcomes

Alexander Ahammer1, Martin Halla2, Nicole Schneeweis3

  • 1Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria; Christian Doppler Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Linz, Austria.

Journal of Health Economics
|February 17, 2020
PubMed

Maternity leave policies are designed to safeguard the health of pregnant workers and their unborn children. We evaluate a maternity leave extension in Austria which increased mandatory prenatal leave from 6 to 8 weeks. We exploit that the assignment to the extended leave was determined by a cutoff date. We find no evidence for significant effects of this extension on children's health at birth or long-term health and labor market outcomes. Subsequent maternal health and fertility are also unaffected. We conclude that employment during the 33rd and 34th week of gestation is not harmful for expecting mothers (without major problems in pregnancy) and their unborn children.

Keywords:
Birth outcomesBirth weightFertilityFetal origins hypothesisInfant healthLong-term child outcomesMaternity leave

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