Press Statement

Preasráiteas

02 June 2020

Go to release: Employment Analysis of Maternity and Paternity Benefits 2016-2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (2 June 2020) released Employment Analysis of Maternity and Paternity Benefits 2016-2019.

Commenting on the release, Dermot Kinane, Statistician, said: ‘This is the first CSO release to examine employment data of people who received maternity and paternity benefits and is an example of policy-relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of their leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. 

Over the period of this research, maternity benefit rates per 100 employees fell from 5.8 in 2016 to 5.3 in 2019. Public Administration and Defence had the highest rate of maternity benefit at 8.3 per 100 employees in 2019, while that same year the lowest rate was in Accommodation and Food Service Activities at 2.5 per 100 employees. Maternity benefit rates were highest in large enterprises with 250 or more employees. 

One in ten (10.1%) women in receipt of maternity benefit in 2018 did not return to paid employment in 2019. This varied from 31.4% for those in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing to 1.2% in Public Administration and Defence. 

The likelihood of a woman returning to paid employment drops with each additional child, particularly for those who have had four or more children. 

Over half (54%) of women in receipt of maternity benefit in 2019 received a top-up payment from their employer in addition to their maternity benefit payment. Of those women who did not receive additional income from their employer, the majority earned less than the weekly maternity benefit payment amount from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Just over one in five women (22%) who earned more than the weekly payment amount did not receive a top-up to their income from their employer while receiving maternity benefit. 

The rate of take-up of paternity benefit was below 60% that of maternity benefit in 2019. 

Paternity benefit, which was available from September 2016, was paid to 3.1 per 100 employees in 2019, an increase on the 2018 rate of 2.9 per 100 employees. The highest rate of paternity benefit in 2019 was 5.6 per 100 employees in Public Administration and Defence, while the lowest rate that same year was in Accommodation and Food Service Activities at 1.1 per 100 employees. Paternity benefit rates were highest in large enterprises with 250 or more employees. 

Less than half (45%) of fathers entitled to paternity benefit did not avail of it in 2018. Accommodation and Food Service Activities had the highest proportion of fathers who did not take up the benefit at 57.5% while Education had the lowest at 30.7% during that year.’

Note to Editors

Enquiries:

Kieran Culhane (+353) 87 1838 704 

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