International Maternity Leave Information
How Much Leave Do New Parents Get in Other Countries?
Courtesy of our friends at ThinkProgress, there is greater public awareness that the United States is one of 2 other countries that are members of the 185-member OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that do not offer any form of pay during maternity leave. In not offering any paid leave for American mothers, the U.S. keeps company with Oman and Papua New Guinea. Their two info-graphics and great article compare national policies:
This infographic shows the maternity leave policies of 39 major countries, including information about how much of the leave is paid, versus partially paid or completely unpaid. For further information including paternity leave by country, you can visit GetVoIP's blog post about parental leave.
Who Pays for the Benefit?
According to this report by the International Labor Organization, of the countries offering nationally mandated paid maternity benefits, 58% offer payments via national security schemes (i.e. schemes where employees pay into the system in order to reap the benefits), 45% do so via employer payments, and 16% do so via a joint social security and employer benefit scheme.
In the United States, where three states offer some form of maternity leave payment, funds are provided via employee payroll deductions.
See what employers offer and how they compare in terms of their parental and maternity leave policies.
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