Maternity and Parental Benefits in Canada: Are There Behavioural Implications?

This paper uses micro data from the 1988/89/90 Labour Market Activities Survey to study some behavioural implications of the Canadian maternity/parental benefits system. We find, first, that fertility behaviour is not significantly influenced by the availability of benefits, and, second, that there is no evidence that women adjusted their labour-supply behaviour in order to gain access to benefits. We also examine who is potentially eligible for maternity/parental benefits. Teenaged new mothers, women with little education and those experiencing difficulty in the labour market are less likely to be eligible. Given the evidence on lack of significant behavioural response, it would thus seem reasonable to ease access to these benefits.