Parental leave benefits

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Labour Market, Social Statistics
Anna Skovbæk Mortensen
+45 21 77 67 54

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Parental leave benefits 2024

The statistics Parental leave benefits in connection with childbirth shed light on the use of the Maternity Act, including equality between mothers and fathers. The statistics have been compiled since 1995, but in 2017 changed data source. Since 2017, data from ATP / Udbetaling Danmark's IT system for the administration of payment of parental benefits in connection with birth, adoption, child illness etc.

Statistical presentation

Childbirth allowance annually calculate a parent's year's use of the rights the Maternity Act gives them, and the distribution of parental leave between the father and mother, as well as the number of persons, and days on benefits. Furthermore, the statistics provide the data basis for calculating amounts paid out in connection with childbirth.

Statistical processing

The data basis of the statistics is based on a total extraction from 13 central tables in the database for ATP/Udbetaling Danmark's administrative IT system, UDK-Barsel, and a delta extraction from a 14th table, which is very large. Selected variables from the 14 tables are merged into a single table that constitutes a longitudinal register, the Barselsdagpenge Register, with a well-defined record structure. The Barselsstatistik Register is formed by combining the Barselsdagpenge Register with an extract from the Population Register and other Danish Statistics registers.

Relevance

The maternity and paternity leave part of the statistic is used by ministries for reasons of gender equality policy and of the unions and the employers' organizations in connection with collective bargaining agreements. The statistics are included as an important data element concerning analyzes of the productivity of the Danish workforce (economic model calculations), the labor market accounts, the statistics statistics on Public dependents and the absence statistics

Accuracy and reliability

The statistics summarize the reports of birth or adoption that have triggered the payment of due to maternity leave. The expectation is that all cases are reported. However, there are a number of cases that will only be reported long after the end of the year to which the case relates, why the last year is not fully updated. In order to get a picture of a parent's year's use of the maternity law, it has been necessary to link several registers and set up an algorithm for calculating the parents' entitlement. There is a risk of programming errors here, just as the algorithm rules are a choice.

Timeliness and punctuality

These statistics are published annually three months after the reference year in March-April. March-April is chosen as the compromise of current interest and waiting for the last reports of the year to appear. At publishing time the newest data will be less than three months old.

Comparability

The statistics are influenced by local Danish legislation, which makes comparison with similar statistics from other countries difficult. In addition, maternity leave can be calculated in 18 different ways, which is why it requires a good knowledge of the documentation for countries' calculation methods before comparing their figures. At the moment, the statistics cover data for the years 2015-2023, where no data breach has been detected, with the exception that the 1st quarter of 2015 is under-updated, which gives a minor data breach for total counts.

Accessibility and clarity

These statistics are published yearly in a Danish press release, at the same time as tables are updated in the StatBank. In the StatBank, these statistics can be found under the subject Parental leave benefits. For further information, go to the subject page.