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Research shows that children who stay at home for the fourth year with their parents have lower educational levels. “They go to university less often and don’t complete their studies. As a result, they don’t study or work in early adulthood,” explains Klára Kalíšková, an economist at the VŠE School of Informatics and Statistics in Prague and the IDEA think tank at CERGE-EI.
Spotlight Generation – Klára Kališková | Video: Mikaela Lišková
Children whose parents have less education are most affected by the extended parental leave. “It turns out that care by mothers with less education when their children are three or four years old does not replace kindergarten and has no benefits for the children,” the researchers explain. In addition to not being able to graduate from university, spending more time at home may affect children in adulthood, including future wages. “In the Czech Republic, we simply do not have any data on this, but foreign literature confirms this. Extended parental leave affects whether children work as much as adults,” adds Kališková.
The fact that they spend an extra year at home with their children also has negative consequences for mothers. For example, it is more difficult for them to return to the labor market and they may face unemployment. However, women often do not have the choice and cannot return to work, for example due to limited kindergarten capacity. “The conditions for women are not satisfactory. This requires not only increasing the capacity of kindergartens, but also children’s groups and other forms of care, such as the neighborhood watch that is being launched in our country,” says the economist.
She believes it is also important for parents to have some assurance from the state that someone will take care of their children. “It is important for parents to be able to do some planning so that they don’t find out in May whether they have won the lottery and whether their child will start kindergarten in September,” Kalishkova added.
According to foreign studies, the ideal time for children to have more socialization in facilities is 18 months. “I can imagine what would happen in the Czech environment. But it would be a radical step. For example, about 15 years ago, Germany introduced a reform that reduced the right to long paid parental leave and provided for children to be employed in school. Today, it is completely normal for women to return to work after a year, a year and a half, and this is not an unrealistic situation, but some gradual steps are more important than drastic changes,” he concluded.
Why does long parental leave hurt society in general and reduce the productivity of the economy? Under what circumstances do mothers want to return to work earlier? What changes would help them? What role do fathers play in parental leave? Find out in the introductory video. You can also listen to the episode as a podcast here.
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