Employer Responses to Family Leave Programs

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2023
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Pages: 107-35

Authors (3)

Rita Ginja (Universitetet i Bergen) Arizo Karimi (not in RePEc) Pengpeng Xiao (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Search frictions make worker turnover costly to firms. A three-month parental leave expansion in Sweden provides exogenous variation that we use to quantify firms' adjustment costs upon worker absence. The reform increased women's leave duration and likelihood of separating from pre-birth employers. Firms with greater exposure to the reform hired additional workers and increased coworkers to make it coworkers' hours, incurring wage costs corresponding to 10 full-time equivalent months in addition to replacing the workers. These adjustment costs varied by firms' availability of internal substitutes. We also analyze a daddy-month reform and find similar employer responses to male workers' leave, albeit smaller in magnitude.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejapp:v:15:y:2023:i:1:p:107-35
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25