MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT IN SCANDINAVIA - A COMPARISON OF THE AFTER-BIRTH EMPLOYMENT ACTIVITY OF NORWEGIAN AND SWEDISH WOMEN

A striking characteristic of recent Western labour market trends is th e rise in employment among mothers of very young children. So far, few studies have analysed the impact of public policies on employment rat es of young mothers. In this study we address this issue by comparing two similar countries, Norway and Sweden, which have the same set of p olicies with slight variations, using data sets with similar designs. We analyse rates of re-entry into paid work after first birth for moth ers in 1968-88 by means of hazard regression. One important finding is that the right to paid maternity leave with jobsecurity greatly speed s up the return to work.