Extending paid maternity leave by another six weeks and introducing a minimum two weeks of paid paternity leave would cost the economy about €5 million, according to Labour MEP Edward Scicluna.
This estimate is a far cry from the €12.3 million suggested in a study by the Malta Business Bureau last month, which argued against extending parental leave as proposed by the European Parliament.
Prof. Scicluna, an economist by profession, also refuted the MBB's conclusion that increasing maternity leave would make women unemployable, insisting scientific research in other countries with similar characteristics did not support this claim. On the contrary, increasing parental leave could lead to an increase of about nine percentage points in the labour force participation rate of women.
The female employment rate stands at 37.7 per cent of the working age female population, much lower than the EU average of 58.6 per cent.
Prof. Scicluna presented his findings at a seminar on maternity and paternity leave organised by the Labour affiliated foundation Ideat for the social partners at the Labour Party headquarters in Ħamrun.
According to Eurostat, Malta ranks last in women labour force participation and, apart from the UK, offers the fewest weeks of paid maternity leave. Women are entitled to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave and men to two days.
An extension of maternity leave to up to 20 weeks and paternity leave to a minimum of two weeks has been proposed in the European Parliament but the Maltese government is opposing the proposals.
Prof. Scicluna also highlighted the fact that the full wage cost of parental leave fell squarely on employers, pointing out it was unfair because some employers required a higher proportion of females than the national average and some young women seeking work might find themselves overlooked or offered a lower wage rate by employers wary of maternity leave costs.
The report said it was very strange that while financial risks related to pensions, sickness leave and health services were spread over the whole working population through funded insurance schemes or similar, no such scheme existed in Malta to finance the probability of having a child.
Prof. Scicluna suggested that a sharing of the costs, together with the introduction of paid paternal leave, would significantly help to ease recruitment discrimination against women of child-bearing age.
Increasing parental leave would not only have positive benefits on infant and maternal health, he added, but it would also increase the productive capacity of the economy as more women joined the labour market.
Prof. Scicluna concluded that the cost of implementing the proposals was well worth undertaking and should be seen as money well invested.