Mothers in the Military: Effect of Maternity Leave Policy on Take-Up
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Authors
Bacolod, Marigee
Heissel, Jennifer A.
Laurita, Laura
Molloy, Matthew
Sullivan, Ryan
Subjects
Maternity leave
Female labors supply
Military
Crowd-out
Female labors supply
Military
Crowd-out
Advisors
Date of Issue
2021-08
Date
Publisher
SSRN
Language
Abstract
The United States remains the only OECD nation without national paid maternity leave. This paper exploits changes in paid maternity leave offered by one of its largest employers, the U.S. Department of Defense. Since 2015, the U.S. Marine Corps has shifted their maternity leave policy from six to 18 to 12 weeks. Leave expansions increased leave duration while 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. Though all mothers used the full six weeks of leave in the early period, it is the less advantaged mothers—in the enlisted ranks, first-time, 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 use less leave than non-pregnant 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.
Type
Preprint
Description
DRAFT Version
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9816044
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9816044
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
54 p.
Citation
Bacolod, Marigee, et al. "Mothers in the Military: Effect of Maternity Leave Policy on Take-Up." (2021) DRAFT.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.