scholarly journals Understanding the increase in the number of childbirth-related leave beneficiaries in Serbia

Stanovnistvo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Katarina Stanic ◽  
Gordana Matkovic
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Calculation Method ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Annual Number ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Special Child ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Basis ◽  
The Right

Over the past number of years, the public expenditures for childbirth-related leave benefits have more than doubled ? in 2015 amounted to 0.7% GDP in relation to 0.3% GDP in 2002. This increase can mainly be attributed to the increased number of beneficiaries that grew consistently from 24 thousand in 2002 up to 40 thousand in 2015, despite the fact that the annual number of live births has been almost continually decreasing and the registered employment has dropped by almost 20 per cent in the observed period. One of the clear reasons explaining part of this increase is the extension of 3+ order of birth leaves in 2006, from one to two years, which can explain the increase of around 3.5 thousand of beneficiaries. Another reason is high number of beneficiaries using special child-care leave meant for parents with children with disabilities, but which, in reality, is very often used simply as the extension of parental leave. The average number of special child-care leave beneficiaries in the second half of 2015 amounted to 2.8 thousand. When these two effects are taken into account, we still notice significant increase of beneficiaries of around 10 thousand in the observed period. Fictitious employment during the pregnancy can explain this increase to some extent. Available data unambiguously show that a number of women formally employing during the second and third trimester of pregnancy has increased from 800 in 2002 to almost 3.5 thousand monthly average in the second half of 2015. There are two flaws of the childbirth-related leave programme in Serbia, which together lead to the constant increase of the number of beneficiaries. First is the lack of flexibility of the programme, both in terms of eligibility for acquiring the right as well as in terms of flexibility in use. Maternity/parental leave benefit may acquire only those in ?standard employment? i.e. employed under employment contract (and entrepreneurs) while other type of contracts is not eligible. Second problem is the loophole in the benefit calculation method and the inadequate special child-care acquiring procedure which brings about the inclusion error. This results in the increase of generosity of the program, in a selective way, which in turn jeopardizes the financial sustainability of the programme as a whole. The reform of the childbirth-related leave program should progress in two directions. First is the change of the benefit calculation method extending the calculation base period so that it disables misuse and inclusion error; enabling the right to those with flexible/non-standard employment; and tightening the eligibility criteria for special-care leave. Second array of reform should tackle the flexibility in use, allowing options such as taking a leave on part-time basis or taking longer periods of leave with lower benefits.

scholarly journals When Does Expanded Eligibility Translate into Increased Take-Up? An Examination of Parental Leave Policy in Luxembourg

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-363
Author(s):  
Merve Uzunalioglu ◽  
Marie Valentova ◽  
Margaret O'Brien ◽  
Anne-Sophie Genevois
Keyword(s):  
Working Mothers ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Foreign National ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Marginal Part ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Part Time ◽  
First Time

This article aims to explore the role of eligibility for parental leave as a determinant of access and as an enabler of leave take-up. To analyse the link between eligibility and take-up, we study a unique policy change in Luxembourg’s parental leave scheme. The country’s 2016 parental leave reform relaxed the eligibility criteria to enable marginal part-time working parents to access the parental leave scheme for the first time. We focus on this change and examine to what extent relaxing the eligibility criteria translated into increased take-up by the marginal part-time working parents who became eligible. To quantify this transition, we analyse trends in and patterns of eligibility for the scheme in Luxembourg between 2009 and 2018 among first-time parents working full-time, part-time, or marginal part-time hours. We use a subsample of Luxembourg-resident, cohabiting, first-time parents (N = 6,254) drawn from the social security data. Our analysis shows that as eligibility is dependent on individual factors, it has similarities among mothers and fathers, whereas take-up is notably greater for mothers. After the reform, we observe that marginal part-time working mothers started taking parental leave, but up to 2018, the reform’s outreach to marginal part-time working fathers remained limited. We also find that foreign national parents are less likely to be eligible for parental leave and have lower take-up rates. Despite the gendered parental leave take-up behaviours in parallel with international evidence, marginal part-time working mothers’ positive response to the reform indicates progress towards strengthening women’s labour market attachment in Luxembourg.

scholarly journals How can we become more equal? Public policies and parents’ work–family preferences in Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110357
Author(s):  
Mareike Bünning ◽  
Lena Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Position ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Employed Parents ◽  
The Right ◽  
Policy Setting

This study examines how public policies affect parents’ preferences for a more egalitarian division of paid and unpaid work. Based on the assumption that individuals develop their preferences within a specific policy context, we examine how changes in three policies affect mothers’ and fathers’ work–family preferences: the availability of high-quality, affordable childcare; the right to return to a full-time job after having reduced hours to part-time and an increase in the number of ‘partner months’ in parental leave schemes. Analysing a unique probability sample of parents with young children in Germany from 2015 ( N = 1756), we find that fathers would want to work slightly fewer hours if they had the right to return to a full-time position after working part-time, and mothers would want to work slightly more hours if childcare opportunities were improved. Full-time working parents, moreover, are found to prefer fewer hours independent of the policy setting, while non-employed parents would like to work at least some hours. Last but not least, our analyses show that increasing the number of partner months in the parental leave scheme considerably increases fathers’ preferences for longer and mothers’ preferences for shorter leave. Increasing the number of partner months in parental schemes hence has the greatest potential to increase gender equality.

scholarly journals How can we become more equal? Public policies and parents’ work-family preferences in Germany

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareike Bünning ◽  
Lena Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Position ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Employed Parents ◽  
The Right ◽  
Policy Setting

This study uses Sen’s (1985) “capabilities framework” to examine how public policies affect parents’ preferences for a more egalitarian division of paid and unpaid work. Based on the assumption that individuals develop their preferences within a specific policy context, we examine how changes in three policies affect mothers’ and fathers’ work-family preferences, namely, the availability of high-quality, affordable childcare, the right to return to a full-time job after working part-time, and an extension of “partner months” in parental leave schemes. Analyzing a unique probability sample of parents with young children in Germany, we find that, on average, fathers would want to work slightly fewer hours if they had the right to return to a full-time position after working part-time, and mothers would want to work slightly more hours if childcare opportunities were improved. Our analyses, however, also show that full-time working parents have preferences for shorter hours and that non-employed parents would prefer longer hours independent of the policy setting. Last but not least, we find that increasing the number of partner months in the parental leave scheme considerably increases fathers’ preferences for longer and mothers’ preferences for shorter periods of parental leave. Our main conclusion is that extending the number of partner months in parental schemes has the greatest potential to increase gender equality.

Flexibility: some consequences for fathers’ caregiving1

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-222
Author(s):  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Father Involvement ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Primary Caregiver ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Early Childcare ◽  
Time Basis

This chapter is about flexibility in the use of Parental Leave. Many countries aiming at greater father involvement in early childcare have introduced flexible leave designs allowing Parental Leave to be taken over an extended period either on a part-time basis or split into shorter blocks. This chapter examines flexible use of the non-transferable quota for fathers in Norway and its effects on fathers’ caregiving. Results show that in choosing part-time leave fathers make themselves available for work, something that often creates stressful situations and interrupts their caregiving. Part-time use assumes that the mother is available, and thus it tends to confirm her as the primary caregiver. Taking the leave in blocks has less negative effects depending on the length of the blocks. The study relates to the Norwegian situation, but the knowledge produced may be relevant to other countries that are in the process of introducing flexible leave for fathers with gender equality in mind.

Remote work as home work during parental leave: problems of interpretation

2020 ◽  
pp. 454-460
Author(s):  
Yu. A. Kuchina
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Insurance Fund ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Labor Legislation ◽  
Social Insurance Fund ◽  
Home Work ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Right

The article draws attention to the ambiguity of the interpretation of the term “home work” in relation to homeworkers and remote workers: The Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation and the courts mainly do not consider it possible to regard remote work as work at home, which does not require the establishment of part-time work for the employee in order to maintain the right to receive state social insurance benefits during parental leave. The author proposes options for improving labor legislation on the subject under study

Patterns of grandparental child care across Europe: the role of the policy context and working mothers' need

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 845-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALERIA BORDONE ◽  
BRUNO ARPINO ◽  
ARNSTEIN AASSVE
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Micro Data ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Provide Child Care ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Child Care Services

ABSTRACTAcross Europe grandparents play very different roles. This paper studies to what extent grandparents' role as providers of child care relates to the country policy context, focusing on public child-care services and parental leave regulation, and to the availability of part-time jobs for women. We also explore whether mothers' needs to combine family and work differently influence the frequency of grandparental child care across countries. The analysis combines micro-data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and macro-indicators from the Multilinks database and Eurostat. We find a clear association between policy context and frequency of grandparental child care. Three models emerge. In countries close to the familialism by default model (i.e. characterised by scarce public child-care services and parental leave), when grandparents provide child care they often do it daily. In countries characterised by defamilialisation and supported familialism policies (with generous public services and parental leave) grandparents take on a marginal role. An intermediate model emerges in countries characterised by a limited offer of child care or parental leave, where grandparental child care complements state support and tends to be offered on a weekly basis. Our analysis corroborates the idea that the highly intensive involvement of grandparents in countries with low availability of part-time jobs for women is influenced by the need (unmet by the welfare) of mothers to combine work and family.

Current Regulatory Standpoint on Evaluating the Bioequivalence of Different Classes of Generic Drugs - Is the Evaluation in the Right Direction?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 835-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Micheal ◽  
Mohanlal Sayana ◽  
Balamurali Musuvathi Motial
Keyword(s):  
Generic Drugs ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Individual Bioequivalence ◽  
Population Bioequivalence ◽  
Standard Tool ◽  
Review Question ◽  
Guidance Documents ◽  
The Right

Background: The concept of evaluating bioequivalence has changed over a period of time. Currently, the Average Bioequivalence approach (ABE) is the gold standard tool for the evaluation of generics. Of late, many debates had arisen about employing ABE approach for the appraisal of all drug categories. This review aims to examine the limitations of ABE approach and the significances of Population Bioequivalence (PBE) and Individual Bioequivalence (IBE) approach, current regulatory thinking for assessing different categories of the drug, whether they are adequately assessed, and the evaluation is in the right direction. Methods: We carried out an organized search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research literatures, regulatory recommendations, guidance documents using a focused review question and eligibility criteria. The standard tools were used to appraise the quality of retrieved documents and to make sure the authenticity of the data. Results: In total 73 references were used in the review, the majority of the references (guidance documents) were from the different regulatory agencies and product-specific guidance. There were 29 product-specific guidance from USFDA and EMA. The limitations of the ABE approach were discussed in detail along with the significances of Population Bioequivalence (PBE) approach and Individual Bioequivalence (IBE) approaches. Conclusion: It is apparent from the review that IBE approach is a precise method for evaluating the drugs as it answers drug interchangeability (prescribability and switchability). IBE approach is followed by PBE approach and ABE approach for the evaluation of different categories of drugs in terms of precision.

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