7 July 2008

New Research on Mothers’ Return to Work: Leave Matters

 

New national research has offered a rare glimpse into the timing of Australian mothers’ return to work after the birth of a child.

Women who had access to leave at the time of the birth – whether paid or unpaid – had a faster return to work than those who did not.

Based on the experience of 3,573 women, the research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that:

“We need to understand what’s going on in these months after the birth of a child, because what women decide to do at this time can have repercussions for their longer term connection to the workforce and financial security, as well as their own wellbeing and that of their child,” Institute Director Professor Alan Hayes said.

The data – drawn from the Parental Leave in Australia Survey, part of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children – represents the first up-dated analysis of maternal employment transitions in more than two decades.

Women in this study were asked about their employment before and after the birth of their child and about what type of leave they had taken.

The research found women who were not employed when pregnant had a much slower shift into employment after having a baby, compared to women who were self-employed.

84% of women who’d been self-employed before their child’s birth were back at work by the time their child turned 18 months, compared to 13 % of women who were not employed before having a child.

The report’s author, Institute Research Fellow, Jennifer Baxter, says some self-employed mothers were back at work three months after their child’s birth.

“Self-employed mothers may go back to work early because they don’t have access to any paid leave and they may need to keep their business going. Another factor could be that self-employed women have more flexibility and often work very short hours,” Dr Baxter said.

However by the time a child reached 18 months old, the majority of women who used some leave had returned to work, whether they had used paid, or unpaid leave, or a combination.

A peak time of return to work was at the child’s first birthday, coinciding with one year’s unpaid maternity leave.

“We found that more highly educated women tended to return to work sooner alongside those who were previously employed in the small business sector,” Dr Baxter said.

The scope of the study did not include all the factors that influenced a mother’s decision to return to paid work.

“We know differences in attitudes are likely to be extremely important in explaining different patterns of return to work, most importantly, parent’s preferences for remaining at home,” Dr Baxter said.

The research, Timing of mothers’ return to work after childbearing; Variations by job characteristics and leave use, is the latest in the Australian Institute of Family Studies Research Paper Series (no 42).

 

Timing of mothers' return to work after childbearing: Variations by job characteristics and leave use, Australian Institute of Family Studies Research Paper No. 42 by Jennifer Baxter

 

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