From research: Impacts of extended parental leave

What is the impact of longer parental leave on children’s human capital investments? A paper published in Journal of Population Economics examined the impact of extended parental leave in the Czech Republic, with dr. K. KALÍŠKOVÁ investigating this subject on behalf of our university. 

The study shows that the paid parental leave extended until the child’s 4th birthday, introduced in 1995 and designed to improve children’s well-being, resulted in replacing preschool education, negatively impacting children’s long-term outcomes. Affected children are 6 percentage points less likely to be enrolled in college and 4 percentage points more likely not to be in education, employment, or training (NEET) at age 21–22. This study is the first to show long-term negative outcomes of more generous family leave policies. 

Authors note that while the negative impact on education is persistent, the effect on NEET is short-lived. The results are driven by children of low-educated mothers, whose education and NEET outcomes are affected by as much as 12 percentage points. The fact that it is primarily the children from low socio-economic backgrounds, who are negatively affected, suggest that such generous family leave policies may in fact increase educational, social and economic inequality. Read further at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00148-024-01010-1