German fathers are staying home with their newborn babies in unexpectedly high numbers in the first year of a generous government subsidy meant to boost the country’s low birth rate, officials said on Friday.
Fathers accounted for about 10% of subsidy beneficiaries in the third quarter of this year, a major shift in the attitude of German men taking time off work for their children, officials said.
They accounted for only 3,5% of all requests for benefits before the new programme started on January 1.
”It’s becoming much more acceptable for someone just starting out in his career to take some time off to be with his kids,” Families Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.
Designed to tackle Germany’s shrinking population, the parent subsidy is worth up to €25 200 ($36 620).
A parent taking time off work to care for a newborn is paid two-thirds of his or her net monthly salary, up to a maximum of €1 800, tax-free for 12 months. The other parent can take a further two months off to extend the benefit to 14 months.
Officials expected mothers to apply for the full benefit, with fathers only joining in for the final two months.
But 20% of the fathers who signed up for the benefit planned to take a full year off. About 21% planned three to 11 months at home, and 58% planned two months.
”I think many more men would stay at home if they had the opportunity,” said Martin Dommer (34) who will stay two months at home with his wife and 10-month-old son starting next week.
”The politicians act as if it’s a huge gift, but actually it’s not — it’s an improvement, but I think even more would stay at home if they could afford it,” said Dommer, from Berlin.
With 386 000 parents signed up in September, the programme was so popular that the government had to add €130-million to its €1,6-billion budget. The government expects to pay parents €4-billion next year.
The unexpected surge in fathers seeking benefits could signal a significant change in the way Germans divide the labour of childrearing, said Nicola Huelskamp, consultant for the German Economic Institute in Cologne.
”This arrangement could mean not only women are held accountable,” Huelskamp said.
Preliminary statistics released this week showed births could rise this year in Germany for the first time in a decade. Births in the first nine months of this year were up about 1% over the same period last year. – Reuters