Luxembourg introduced parental leave in 1999. A first assessment of the scheme, published in October 2001, finds that nearly 6,000 employees took parental leave in the first two years of its existence. However, the take-up by men has been low - some 90% of those taking leave have been women. Furthermore, the job creation effect expected to flow from this measure is still weak.
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Luxembourg introduced parental leave in 1999. A first assessment of the scheme, published in October 2001, finds that nearly 6,000 employees took parental leave in the first two years of its existence. However, the take-up by men has been low - some 90% of those taking leave have been women. Furthermore, the job creation effect expected to flow from this measure is still weak.
Parental leave was introduced in Luxembourg within the framework of the law of 12 February 1999, which implemented the country's first National Action Plan (NAP) on employment, in response to the EU Employment Guidelines (LU9903195F). The leave lasts for six months (or 12 months part time) per parent, and applies in respect of all children born after 1 January 1999 to an insured employee in Luxembourg. One of the parents must take the leave immediately after the period of maternity leave, while the other parent may take it at any time until the child's fifth birthday. During the six-month period of leave, the parents qualify for a monthly cash state benefit of EUR 1,611.
An initial provisional report on the impact of parental leave was published in October 2001 by the Chamber of Private Sector White-Collar Staff in Luxembourg (Chambre des employés privés du Luxembourg, CEP-L) (the consultative body for white-collar workers).
The report finds that since the measure was introduced in April 1999, an average of 251 people have been granted parental leave every month, and that the total expenditure incurred by the Fund for Employment (Fonds pour l'emploi) tops EUR 25 million. There were 5,793 beneficiaries up to February 2001; of these, 90% were women aged 25 to 29. Most of the men taking parental leave have been aged 30-34, and they usually take it later than women: most women prefer to go on parental leave after maternity leave. The sectors in which parental leave is most frequently sought are finance, followed by retail. The beneficiaries of parental leave have been Luxembourg residents (54%), French nationals (26%), Belgian nationals (13%) and German nationals (7%).
One of the objectives of the law was to create jobs and give work to unemployed workers for fixed periods of time to cover employees on parental leave: this has most emphatically not been achieved. Parental leave has been granted by over 700 enterprises, but the government says that only 278 new recruits have been taken on in this context, 162 of them without the assistance of the Employment Administration (Administration de l'Emploi). This is a very low figure given the creation of 62,000 new jobs since 1988.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2001), Parental leave being taken up, by not by men, article.
