Journal of Human Resources · 2026 · Cecilia Machado、Valdemar Pinho Neto、Christiane Szerman
中文摘要
本文考察企业与劳动者如何回应巴西一项由政府资助、自愿参与的项目，该项目将带薪产假时长从四个月延长至六个月。我们发现，规模更大、薪酬更高且生产率更高的企业更有可能为劳动者提供延长的产假。利用延长产假在不同企业间的逐步实施以及劳动者休假的确切时间，我们提出四项关键发现。第一，符合条件的劳动者并未全部使用延长的产假，使用率仅为35%，且使用者主要是社会经济地位较高的劳动者。第二，企业与劳动者策略性地推迟劳动关系终止，以从政府获取租金。第三，延长产假对母亲的劳动力市场结果没有长期影响。第四，就业保障以及有关产假延长的信息传递提高了使用率，并减少了推迟终止劳动关系的情况。研究结果表明，分配方面的考量可以为强制提供延长的带薪产假提供正当理由。
Abstract
Abstract This paper investigates how firms and workers respond to a voluntary government-funded program increasing the duration of paid maternity leave from four to six months in Brazil. We show that larger, higher-paying, and more productive firms are more likely to provide extended leaves to workers. Exploiting the gradual implementation of extended leave across firms and the exact time of leave-taking, we present four key findings. First, we find an incomplete take-up of 35 percent among eligible workers, largely driven by those with high socioeconomic status. Second, firms and workers strategically defer job separations to extract rents from the government. Third, extended leave has no long-term impact on maternal labor market outcomes. Fourth, job security and information transmission about leave extensions boost take-up and reduce deferred job separations. The results illustrate that distributional concerns can justify the mandated provision of extensions in paid maternity leave.