The number of people opting for parental leave in Luxembourg has steadily increased in recent years, and it seems as though more men are also beginning to make full use of the measure.
On Monday, Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy George Engel unveiled statistics around the number of people who have taken parental leave since 2017. Five years ago, 8,251 made use of their right for parental leave. By 2021, that rate rose by 41.03% to attain 11,636 people.
An increasing number of men are deciding to make use of their right for parental leave. According to statistics from the General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGGS), their number almost doubled between 2017 and 2021, rising from 3,675 to 6,186.
The number of women taking leave also went up, although less significantly: 4,576 in 2017 compared to 5,450 in 2021. Since 2019, more men than women have taken parental leave.
Among the list of options, most people choose full-term leave (5,447 in 2021) or fragmented leave (3,462 in 2021), the latter of which awards people one day of leave per week for 20 months.
Read also: Petitions on parental leave and paediatric care pass threshold for Chamber debate
Although the number of births went up between 2017 and 2021, it only increased by 516: 6,174 births in 2017 compared to 6,690 births four years later. Furthermore, parental leave can be taken until a child is six, which means that requests can be filed over several years without having a direct link to the number of births from a specific year.
