Potential Access to Maternity and Parental Benefits in Canada: Implications of the Switch from UI to EI

This paper uses micro data from the 1988/89/90 Labour Market Activities Survey to study some behavioural implications of the Canadian maternity/parental benefits system. We find, first, that fertility behaviour is not significantly influenced by the availability of benefits, and, second, that there is no evidence that women adjusted their labour-supply behaviour in order to gain access to benefits. We also examine who is potentially eligible for maternity/parental benefits.