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parbo

Eh, the cost is that you only get a maximum of 80% of your salary. It is also capped.

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In Norway, which has a similar arrangement, you can choose between

1) 46 weeks with 100% pay

2) 56 weeks with 80% pay

This is capped at ~ $70 K, but in practice many employers pay people on leave their normal salary (or 80% if you choose the longer leave period).

In which case, Swedes find it at least as valuable as 20% of their salary.

The relevant question: do they consider paternity leave to be worth more than 100% of their salary? If not, this policy is harmful.

That's only a fair question if your basic needs (food and shelter) are met with 0% of your salary. Otherwise, there is not really a choice.

Thanks to my American salary and Swedish consumption level, my basic needs can be met for many months even if my salary drops to $0. (Not that I actually want paternity leave - it sounds boring.)

Exactly what do you mean by "Swedish consumption level"? Do you think we have 14" TV's and live on ramen here?

Americans all know Swedes primarily subsist on 99 cent soft serve ice cream cones.

I'll post income figures again: http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/03/income-distributio...

I spend money like a person living on the blue line. I earn money like a person living on the red line.

Or, to make another comparison, I imagine people in Sweden consume similarly to people in Maine or Montana (two of the poorer US states).

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_otfwl2zc6Qc/S1C7-ttdD0I/AAAAAAAAMe...

(Note that those numbers are PPP adjusted.)

So, I'll assume you're above the crossover point. In Sweden, we tend to think that everybody should be able to be home with their kids, not just the ones with enough income to save up..

The people at the very bottom actually have more time to spend with their kids. 80% of our poor (roughly our bottom 15%) are not in the labor force, for example.

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