Research summary - Mothers’ return to work and child care arrangements after parental leave

Why this study

Maternity and parental leave helps parents take time off work to spend time with their child. It also guarantees their return to the same or equivalent job once the leave ends. This job protection is supplemented by financial support for new parents through:

• a provincial parental insurance program in Quebec, and
• the Employment Insurance (EI) program’s parental benefit in the rest of Canada

This study examines the employment of mothers after parental leave in Canada using recent data from before the COVID-19 pandemic.

What we did

The study uses data from the Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS) between 2009 and 2019. It focuses on mothers who worked before giving birth or adopting a child under 12 months old. Factors affecting the likelihood and timing of these mothers’ return to work after parental leave were compared for the 2009 and 2019 cohorts.

What we found

The percentage of mothers returning to work sometime after parental leave increased from 82.3% in 2009 to 88.4% in 2019. Compared with 2009 mothers, 2019 mothers tended to:

• have higher education levels
• have longer job tenure
• better hourly wages
• be older
• be foreign-born
• receive more parental benefits, and
• receive employer top-up payments

While 2019 mothers were more likely than 2009 mothers to return to work at some time after parental leave, 2019 mothers were less likely to return to work within 12 months (60% versus 65%). This is because parents became eligible to receive extended benefits (up to 61 weeks) under the EI program in December 2017.

The following mothers were less likely to return to work within 12 months:

• university-educated mothers
• couple-parent mothers
• mothers receiving top-up payments from their employers
• mothers with a unionized job
• Ontario and Western province mothers
• mothers earning $30 to $39/hour

What it means

Policy efforts have been made to encourage and help new mothers continue their careers after childbirth or adoption. One such policy is paid maternity and parental leave, followed by subsidized child care—both of which fall under the mandate of ESDC.

The results of this study help us understand:

• whether and (if so) when mothers go back to work after parental leave, and
• how these trends have changed over time, in parallel with changes in the characteristics of mothers and policy

The implementation of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care program (ELCC) with lower cost and increased accessibility of ELCC programs may bring similar changes. This may reduce differences in return-to-work behavior between advantaged and less advantaged mothers.

Contact us

Income Security and Social Development Branch, Early Learning and Child Care, Data and Research Unit

Email: esdc.nc.sspb.research-recherche.dgpss.cn.edsc@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca