Support #1584
"inapplicable" end date of maternity leave & how to find out when leave ended
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Description
Dear support team,
I am trying to create a variable measuring length of labour market interruption following childbirth in months.
One important component of this is knowing when maternity leaves end - variable w_matlvendm .
However, I find that a large chunk of my sample have w_matlvendm & w_matlvendy listed as inapplicable despite the fact that they have non-missing values on variables w_matlvstm and w_matlvsty (maternity leave start month and year).
On closer inspection I see that these are people who have a value of 3 on variable w_matlv (SPONTANEOUS Currently on maternity/paternity leave) - i.e. they are still on maternity leave at the time of the interview.
For some of these people w_jbstat maternity leave and so I am able to trace the end of their leave at the next wave using notempchk, empstendm etc.
However for a good proportion of them w_jbstat paid employment (ft/pt) and so, as far as I can tell there is no way of tracing the date of the end of their leave at the next interview.
Can I ask whether there is something I am missing in terms of finding out the end date of their leave/ when they returned to their jobs? Can you suggest any alternative methods?
I’m also curious as to why in some cases jbstat = paid employment when matlv currently on mat leave, whereas in others jbstat maternity leave.
many thanks in advance,
Laura
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