Parental leave take up: Case of Luxembourg

Luxembourg introduced a parental leave scheme in 1999 as one of the policy efforts to stimulate equality between men and women with regard to bringing up children and to allow for reconciliation of family and professional life, so that the caring parents do not have to withdraw from the labour market after having a child. The analysis presented in this paper is one of the first systematic attempts to assess the parental leave take up of women in Luxembourg and to analyze it in light of micro-level characteristics of potential beneficiaries. The paper aims to explore the acceptance of parental leave provisions by the population of young women residing in Luxembourg and to examine which of their socio-demographic and labour market characteristics determine parental leave take up. Attention is also paid to anticipated labour market strategies of women after parental leave.