UPDATED 12 December 2009: Icelandic parents-to-be look unlikely to have their maternity/paternity pay cut as had been feared. And it now seems the final month of their leave period is not to be suspended for three years either.
The government’s initial idea was to lower the limit on parents’ maternity/paternity pay from ISK 350,000 a month down to 300,000 and to stipulate that payments be no higher than 75 percent of parents’ standard working wage instead of the current 80 percent. This proposal proved unpopular with the public.
The next idea, according to Visir.is, was thought to be to reduce new parents’ leave by a month, which they would then save for three years and take when their child turns three – but Althingi’s Society and Social Insurance Committee has ruled this out. It therefore remains unclear how the government is going to save the ISK 1.2 billion on parental leave it needs to in 2o1o.
MANY ICELANDERS HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY AND MANY MORE ARE ABOUT TO DO IT. AND THOSE WHO ARE LEFT HERE WONT EVEN THINK ABOUT HAVING A CHILD. MANY FAMILIES HAVE TO REACH FOR CHARITY HELP TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN. SO IF THIS NEW MEASURE ENTERS IN EFFECT IT WILL MEAN THAT PARENTS WILL HAVE 0 ISK PAID IN DECEMBER. WHICH MEANS NO MONEY FOR THE OTHER CHILDREN AS WELL. AND IN CHRISTMAS??
THEY HAVE TO BE OUT OF THEIR MIND!!! ICELANDIC POLITIC CLASS IS REALLY MAD.
PLEASE, BRING THE UNO FORCES IN TO PROTECT ICELANDERS FROM THIS MAFIA BEFORE THEY COMPLETELY DESTROY THIS COUNTRY!!
To “Sir Euro”:
“Those who are left here won’t even think of having a child.”
Have you been to Iceland lately? If so, you would notice that the fertility rate is even HIGHER after the crash. 2009 is on its way to breaking records for births at Icelandic hospitals. Take a stroll around the University of Iceland once and count all the pregnant women. Many women see it as an opportunity to have a child if there are no jobs to be had. Plus, it makes explaining the gap in a CV easier (caring for a baby sounds better than browsing Facebook all day) Plus, if you’re getting no income, why not have a baby and let the state pay you money? I don’t condone having a baby if a person’s financial situation is bleak, but this is Iceland after all and things rarely make sense here.
If there is a real crisis in Iceland how can be the baby boom explained? In some countries crisis means – nothing more to eat, in Iceland crisis means – nothing more to borrow.
“If there is a real crisis in Iceland how can be the baby boom explained?”
If there is real poverty in Africa and India, how can their continuous baby booms be explained?
The Icelandic government will do their very best to see their own people suffer while some Mafia members up there are having a luxurios lives of their own. Cutting down everything and ruining the lives of some Icelanders is not humane at all just because of some “ignoramus” who had run this country into ruins.
Clearly the Icelandic government and, even more, the public need to wake up to their situation. They are massively in debt and cannot afford these absurdly generous welfare payments. Who do they think is going to pay the bill?