Does the IAB employment sample reliably identify maternity leave taking? A data report

Journal for Labour Market Research

Table 4 How many leave spells are due to maternity leave?

	West, Germans	West, Germans, 1st spell	West, Foreigners	West, Foreigners, 1st spell	East
No restriction	55.40%	59.71%	44.80%	54.93%	36.12%
N	38,984	25,243	3,286	1,804	1,672
Age
Between 18 and 40	74.36%	77.55%	64.92%	72.30%	58.35%
N	28,752	19,280	2,218	1,350	1.018
True leave spells deleted	2.12%	2.03%	3.00%	3.30%	1.53%
Between 18 and 35	77.61%	79.93%	71.81%	76.51%	66.36%
N	26,072	18,026	1,820	1,192	868
True leave spells deleted	10.56%	9.21%	11.26%	12.91%	3.48%
Plus duration of leave spell
>2 months	84.04%	85.55%	75.62%	81.48%	68.82%
N	23,929	16,184	1,735	1,096	773
True leave spells deleted	11.53%	13.56%	10.32%	13.84%	7.01%
>3 months	84.80%	87.01%	77.81%	83.39%	70.98%
N	21,867	14,876	1,523	963	696
True leave spells deleted	17.84%	20.54%	16.28%	22.35%	11.27%
Plus leave spell not equal to 1st	88.74%	90.68%	80.81%	86.85%	78.23%
N	20,879	14,275	1,506	958	620
True leave spells deleted	16.96%	19.40%	14.33%	18.79%	11.31%
Plus spell not preceded by app.	89.19%	91.35%	80.85%	87.06%	78.20%
N	20,308	13,752	1,483	935	601
True leave spells deleted	18.65%	21.84%	15.14%	20.37%	12.51%

Note: The table reports the share of leave spells in the IABS that can be linked to childbirth in the Pension Register, after imposing more and more restrictions. After deleting women younger than 18 and older than 40, spells that are shorter than 2 months, spells that start on the first of a month, and spells that are preceded by apprenticeship training, 89.19% of all leave spells of western German women in the IABS are due to childbirth. For women of foreign nationality and women in eastern Germany, the shares are 80.69% and 78.20% respectively. The findings are based on Sample B.