OMG. Lucky guess.

Crap, I didn't know that. Boooooooooooooooo

That was easy

I knew the United States was one!

Savvy,

As a mom I would love to have some paid maternity leave but remember the other statistics. Many ountries that give more paid leave than the US have a lower GDP and lower fertility rate. Would paid leave ultimately hurt us in the end?

Thank goodness I live in C-Town Canada that is!

Haha Savvy I got this right because we just covered a chapter on this stuff in my sociology class i'm taking. pretty much every country in the world except the US have paid leave...sad.

very sad!

Easy.

I failed.

I guessed it right! I figured the US was one of them, and I knew it couldn't be either France or Germany. So left was either AU or Canada, and then I figured it had to be AU as I couldn't imagine it was Canada.

That's so sad! The US and Australia also lead on pollutants and negative environmental practices as well.

This is my first post on sugar! Yippie! =) But I digress...

In response to fsquaash's, "As a mom I would love to have some paid maternity leave but remember the other statistics. Many ountries that give more paid leave than the US have a lower GDP and lower fertility rate. Would paid leave ultimately hurt us in the end?"

Lower fertility rates are often related to economic development. Generally, the more economically developed a nation is, the lower birth rates are. Most Western European countries have low birth rates, and the United States would too if we didn't have a large number of immigrants.

And well, the GDP issue... The US is a huge country with lots of people, and using GDP as a statistic is misleading because it measures *all* goods in a country. You would have to compare the US' GDP to that of the entire European Union (well, almost) if you wanted to be fair about it. If you look at GDP per capita, then you'll see that maternity leave does not impact the economic gains of individuals in those states that mandate paid maternity leave, specifically those in Western Europe.

Paid leave should be required. It only makes sense.

I can't believe i got it right. they should offer points for taking these quizes.

Well, I knew for sure that the U.S. doesn't. And I knew that Canada DOES, so this one was an easy one for me.

for Canada!

I'm Australian so unfortunately I knew this. It's not good enough! Many larger companies offer paid maternity leave, but it really needs to be legislated to ensure that all working women have access to the same maternity leave.

Yay, I got it right! I'm going to have a hard time going back to the US to work, after being so taken care of in the UK ... paid maternity leave (not that I'm planning to get pregnant anytime soon!), four weeks of holiday, national health care ...

Of course it's not the United States! Do you know how much maternity leave women in France get??!! I'm tempted to move there b/c this country sucks sometimes.

wow had no idea

Lucky guess I had an idea that the US was one of them! And I agree that it should be paid...

Rosebad3--I was actually referring to GDP per capita. Check out the CIA world fact book: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/rankord...

It has some great info comparing countries economically.

Laurie--You may not have a job to come back to after all that maternity leave in France. They are not doing well with that 30-hour workweek.

My point it, OF COURSE we all want paid time off (especially for kids), but if our employer pays for it they hire fewer workers so more moms are unemployed. If the government pays, we pay higher taxes putting us right back where we started.

Here's a great article from msnbc about taxes around the world. Europe doesn't look so great in comparison.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P148855.asp

Rosebad3--I was actually referring to GDP per capita. The CIA world factbook has a great comparison site for these types of figures:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/rankord...

Our GDP per person is higher than most of these countries that provide paid maternity coverage.

Laurie--I don't think you would enjoy France when you got there only to be unemployed.

The point is, OF COURSE we all want paid leave (especially for kids) but there's a trade-off. If employers pay for it, they can't hire as many workers leaving moms unemployed. If the government pays for it, we pay higher taxes.

Speaking of which, check out this article on tax burdens worldwide:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P148855.asp

We take for granted how much of our money we get to keep for our families.

This is really unfortunate. Mothers should be allowed at least a nominal period of paid leave. I know a mom who had a job that didn't fit under the FMLA umbrella of 12 weeks of unpaid leave. She had to go back to work 2 WEEKS after having a new baby because she would lose her job if she didn't go back and could not afford going without pay... Sad. If it improves the quality of life for everyone, I don't mind an increase in taxes or lower economic gains.

I am SO GLAD we Americans don't have paid maternity leave!

YES it'd be nice in most of our cases... but I teach (and LOVE) a bunch of teenagers who are raised and told that if the more babies they have, the more money the government sends them. This is how their parents live (if you ask them what their parents do, they say "sit at home and watch t.v. and get checks in the mail") If they got paid even more on top of the medicare that's already paid to them, this would be BAD!!!!

For middle class America, yes, paid maternity leave would be great.
It is ILLEGAL for someone to fire you for taking off 6 weeks after a baby. Know your rights.

Sometimes the people in charge know what they're doing. You have to think about ALL Americans! We are not all the same!!!

Now if there was some way to get paid maternity leave to taxpayers, yessss that'd be great.

this is just wrong. childbearing is rearing your children are important aspects of society and public welfare. and it's been proven that BF has so many benefits which translate to a healthier and happier society in the end. How can a mom feed or bond with their children in just 6 weeks? it's cruel and disheartening that some of the "most" advanced countries treat their society this way.

The US has one of the worst maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in the world. For a country that purports to champion family values, we don't do a good job of putting our money (and policies) where our mouth is. Paid family leave is shown to improve the health of infants-- and it can be used by people who need time off to care for elderly parents, which is a LOT of us.

Check out www.momsrising.org for lots of great info-- and easy ways to make change happen!