More Paid Parental Leave Linked to Wider Gender Pay Gap Full time workers ages30 to 34 Gender pay gap* 20 15
Among 38 of the world’s more developed nations, the United States has the least liberal government policies regarding paid parental leave, leading some to argue that this puts American women at a disadvantage as they navigate their careers.
But it also turns out that some countries that offer more liberal parental leave policies have higher pay gaps among men and women ages 30 to 34, according to analyses of 16 countries conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD theorizes that this link may be driven by the fact that women are more likely than men to actually use their parental leave, and that time out of the workforce is associated with lower wages.
More Paid Parental Leave Linked to Wider Gender Pay Gap  | Full time workers ages30 to 34  | Gender pay gap*  | 30 %  | Slovakia  | Czech Rep.  | 25  | Japan  | Austria  | Finland  | 20  | Canada  | South Korea  | Germany  | 15  | U.S.  | Australia  | Denmark  | ULK  | 10  | Norway  | Ireland  | Belgium  | New Zealand  | 5  | 10  | 15  | 20  | 25  | 30  | 35  | 40  | 45  | Weeks of paid parental leave  | data *Gender pay gap OECD is defined as the difference reflects between male and femal e median eamings divided bymale median eamings Parental leave  | data is based gap on OECD estimates and reflects leave available Echanges to either parent, as opposed to matemityleave (onlyava ilable to moms) or  | paternity leave (only availa bleto dads). Due to ongoing Echanges in familyleave policies these estimates may notreflect present policies inall  | nations.  | Source: OECD Family Data base 2012; OECD Data base on Earnings Distribution  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 