(Yicai Global) March 2 -- Jiangsu province in eastern China is extending its maternity leave by 30 days for new mothers to 158 days to support the government’s new three-child policy introduced in May last year to boost the country’s dwindling birthrate.

The province, which is part of the Yangtze Delta region economic hub, already offered 30 days more maternity leave than the national average at 128 days. New fathers are entitled to 15 days of paternity leave.

The local government also said in its proposal yesterday that it is willing to share some of the costs the long maternity leave imposes on businesses. It will help pay for a substitute worker during the period of leave. It will subsidize 50 percent of social insurance payments for a second-child mother and 80 percent for a third-child mother.

“We have to continue to explore other methods such as tax cuts and performance incentives to further lighten the burden of labor costs on businesses during maternity leave,” said Dong Yuzheng, head of the Guangdong Province Population Development Research Center. “Only by forming a social mechanism that shares the cost of parenting will firms become more willing to recruit female workers,” he added.

Jiangsu is also granting each parent 10 days of parental leave a year before the child is three years old, and it will urge companies to allow more flexible working hours to cater to the needs of young families.

Since the three-child policy was introduced, a number of local governments have been rolling out incentives to encourage families to have three children. Shanghai, Beijing and the southwestern province of Zhejiang are all offering extended maternity leave, childcare subsidies, housing incentives as well as improved childcare services.

Editor: Kim Taylor