The Maternity Regime Reform in Vietnam: Demand and Income of Female Employees Leave Period to Take Care of Children, Safety of Maternity Insurance Fund

In 2014, Vietnam carried out a series of maternity regime reforms that have brought some benefits. The focus of this reform is to increase childcare leave from 4 months to 6 months, but this is still not enough to meet the needs of maternal and child health care. This paper examines the effects on female employees of the labor-demand response to the costs of mandated maternity programs and the safety of the maternity insurance fund when increasing the duration of the maternity regime. This study focuses on two key outcomes: the need for and decreases in income for female employees’ leave periods to take care of children, and the maternity insurance fund's safety when increasing the maternity regime's time. We discovered all female employees have a desire to extend childcare for more than 6 months despite their average income falling by 42%, up to 54%, during parental leave. And the maternity insurance fund is still safe if the childcare leave is increased from 6 to 9 months. These findings have important implications for the Vietnamese Government's policymaking.