Use of Parental Leave by Mothers and Fathers

Therefore, a microdata analysis of the 2022 Microcensus on this topic was carried out. It has to be noted that different items from the Microcensus can be used to analyse parental leave without employment, leading to very similar but not identical results. In contrast, for parental leave working part-time – which is also a possibility – only one method of analysis appears appropriate. If this method is chosen, the result is that in 2022, during the child’s first year of life, an average of 58.0 per cent of mothers were on parental leave without employment and 5.2 per cent were on parental leave working part-time. 11.6 per cent were in regular dependent employment, 1.8 per cent were self-employed and 23.4 per cent were not in employment (outside of parental leave). In the child’s second year, 25.5 per cent of mothers were on parental leave without employment and 7.4 per cent were on parental leave working part-time. In the third year, the figures were 9.4 per cent and 4.0 per cent.

Among fathers, the proportion taking parental leave without employment stood at 5.3 per cent and the proportion taking parental leave working part-time at 3.2 per cent during the child’s first year of life; in the second year, these figures were 2.0 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively. After that, very few men remained on parental leave. It should be noted, however, that the duration of parental leave for men is usually well under a year. Based on the average duration of parental allowance payments, which is likely to coincide with parental leave for men in most cases, the total proportion of men who have ever taken parental leave following the birth of their children is likely to be in the region of the 46.3 per cent share of fathers receiving Elterngeld in 2022. For women, such an approach would not be effective, as parental leave is likely to significantly exceed the maximum period for which parental allowance is payable in many cases. It should also be noted that there are parents who, although they receive parental allowance, are unable to take parental leave, for example because they are self-employed.

When broken down by parents’ educational attainment, clear differences emerge. For instance, men with a university degree make use of parental leave far more often than less-qualified fathers. In the child’s first year, 7.7 per cent of them were on parental leave without employment and 4.0 per cent on parental leave working part-time, and in the child’s second year 2.4 per cent of them were on parental leave without employment and 3.7 per cent on parental leave working part-time. In contrast, female graduates were significantly less likely to be on parental leave during the child’s second and third years than women with vocational qualifications. Overall, it is evident that the take-up of parental leave is not independent of families’ circumstances. Further research in this area would be important in order to develop the institutional framework for parental leave as effectively as possible.