Parental leave most popular among mothers with high education and a full-time job

Some 264 thousand workers in the Netherlands were entitled to parental leave in 2009. Only 79 thousand actually took this leave. Women are much more likely than men to claim parental leave: 53 thousand ((41 percent) of women entitled to parental leave actually took time off, compared with 26 thousand men ((19 percent).

The number of working women with a personal income of between 40 and 50 thousand euro who take parental leave is twice as high as the number with an income of between 10 and 20 thousand (60 and 31 percent respectively). The difference is mainly related to their level of education and the hours they work. More women with a high level of education than those with lower levels take parental leave (58 versus 17 percent) and women with a full-time job more often take time off than those with a part-time job (55 versus 30 percent).

Women taking parental leave, 2009

Francis van der Mooren and Jannes de Vries