The Impact of Maternity-protective Leave on Fertility Behaviours in South Korea

In this article, we evaluate the impact of two types of maternity-protective leave― maternity and parental leave―on fertility rates among female employees in South Korea. We formulated theoretical hypotheses about the effects of maternity-protective leave on parity-specific fertility hazards and then used data from the Korea Labour and Income Panel Study, 2001-2015, to assess these hypotheses. The results of statistical models addressing selectivity issues reveal the negative selection of female employees into maternity leave in the first birth dataset. After accounting for a wide array of confounding variables via discrete-time hazard models, maternity leave, but not parental leave, emerged as a notable fertility-boosting fringe benefit for both first and second births. Specifically, entitlement to maternity leave enhanced hazard odds by a factor of nearly one third. Empirical evidence of negative selection further strengthens the argument that the actual impact of maternity leave is likely greater than the effects uncovered in the current models.