<p>Mothers and fathers in Sweden receive an earnings-related benefit of 80 percent of their income when they take parental leave. There exists a ceiling in the allowance though, meaning that some people with high earnings don’t receive fully 80 percent of their ordinary salary. The length of the parental leave varies between women and men and also among men and women. Various reasons are used to explain this; one of them is economical. This study investigates the economics reasons further by studying how additional compensations from the employer affect the length of the parental leave. The empirical material that is used in this study is called Time and money and it was collected in 2003 by Statistics Sweden. It consists of a survey of parents of 3164 children, born in 1993 or 1999.The used method for the study is regression analysis. Women and men are studied separately and also in different income-brackets. This proceeding makes it possible to detect if the effect of additional compensation vary by income. The result shows that mothers and fathers with high earnings are effected by the additional compensation from the employer, implying that economical reasons can’t be overlooked in explaining why the length of parental leave vary. No significant results are found for parents with low income.</p>

Mothers and fathers in Sweden receive an earnings-related benefit of 80 percent of their income when they take parental leave. There exists a ceiling in the allowance though, meaning that some people with high earnings don’t receive fully 80 percent of their ordinary salary. The length of the parental leave varies between women and men and also among men and women. Various reasons are used to explain this; one of them is economical. This study investigates the economics reasons further by studying how additional compensations from the employer affect the length of the parental leave. The empirical material that is used in this study is called Time and money and it was collected in 2003 by Statistics Sweden. It consists of a survey of parents of 3164 children, born in 1993 or 1999.The used method for the study is regression analysis. Women and men are studied separately and also in different income-brackets. This proceeding makes it possible to detect if the effect of additional compensation vary by income. The result shows that mothers and fathers with high earnings are effected by the additional compensation from the employer, implying that economical reasons can’t be overlooked in explaining why the length of parental leave vary. No significant results are found for parents with low income.