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Civil servants are more inclined than employees to take paternity leave and more frequently extend their paternity or maternity leave with other types of leave than private sector employees, reveals a study published Tuesday by the administration.
“In 2021, 91% of civil service fathers and 85% of private sector fathers took paternity leave after the birth of the child“, indicates the General Directorate of Administration and Civil Service (DGAFP) in this survey based on data from the Statistical Directorate of Social Ministries (Drees).
The difference between public and private is particularly marked among fathers under 40. Beyond this age, 84% of fathers took paternity leave in 2021 after the birth of their child, whether they work in companies or in the public sector.
Employees and workers in the private sector also use paternity leave significantly less than those in the public sector (81%, compared to 89%).
Public officials are also more inclined than employees to extend their maternity or paternity leave with other types of leave: 55% of female civil servants make this choice (43% in the private sector) and 46% of male public employees. % (compared to 40% for employees).
In France, paternity or “second parent” leave was increased to 28 days on July 1, 2021, compared to 14 days until then. Public and private combined, 65% of fathers say they have taken all the paternity leave to which they were entitled under the new regime in 2021.
Also devoted to childcare methods for children under three years old, the study published Tuesday indicates that civil servants look after their children at home less often than employees and entrust them more frequently to a crèche.
Among children under three years of age with at least one parent working in the public sector, 39% are looked after at home by one of their parents, compared to 48% in the private sector.
In these families, “on average, three quarters of parental care time (76%) is provided by the mother compared to 86% for children where one of the parents is a private sector employee”, according to the study.
The sample used for the survey consists of approximately 4,000 children under the age of three, 2,800 of whom have no parents in the public service.