German federal law has increased the potential duration of maternity leave five times since 1985. A theretical model is presented that demonstrates that the return to work hazard rate declines as potential duration cannot decline unless the mother's employment conditions or career expectations...

This paper uses data from the GSOEP to look at the relationship between labor force status and fatherhood among men in East and West Germany. For many years, in particular from the late fifties through the mid-seventies, fertility patterns in the East and West were quite similar. With the...

This paper analyzes the influence of children's health and mothers' physical and mental wellbeing on female labor force participation after childbirth in Germany. Our analysis uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, which enables us to measure children's health based on the...