Job Protection Isn’t Enough

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Job Protection Isnt EnoughWhy America Needs Paid Parental Leave

By Heather Boushey, Jane Farrell, and John Schmitt

Center for American Progress and the Center for Economic and Policy Research

December 2013


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Job Protection Isnt EnoughWhy America Needs Paid Parental Leave

By Heather Boushey, Jane Farrell, and John Schmitt

Center for American Progress and the Center for Economic and Policy ResearchDecember 2013


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1 Introduction

3 Background: The need for paid family leave

5 Taking parental leave

10 Paid parental leave

15 Conclusion

18 Data and methodology

20 Endnotes

Contents


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1 Center for American Progress | Job Protection Isnt Enough

Introduction and summary

weny years ago, he Family and Medical Leave Ac, or FMLA, was signed ino

law. Te FMLA graned cerain workers new and imporan righs, including he

abiliy o ake up o 12 weeks o job-proeced leave afer a birh or adopion, bu

i ell shor in a leas wo imporan respecs.1Firs, he leave guaraneed under

he law is unpaid, making i difficul or many covered workers o ake advanage

o heir new righs. Second, he FMLA does no cover abou 40 percen o he

American workorce.2Tese workers don mee he laws eligibiliy crieria, he

mos imporan o which are requiremens ha he worker have been on he job ora leas 1,250 hours in he year preceding he leave and ha he workers employer

have a leas 50 employees.3Moreover, since employers mosly conrol access o

ime off and here are no ederal laws ha se minimum sandards, ime off has been

seen as a perk or higher-paid employees. Tus, even wihin he same firm, some

workers may have more access o ime off, or paid ime off, han ohers.4

Wihou downplaying he hisorical significance o he FML As guaranee o

job-proeced leave or a majoriy o U.S. workers, his review o Census Bureau

daa rom he firs wo decades o he FMLA suggess ha he law had a limied

impac on he requency o parenal leave and no impac on he likelihood ha

parenal leave is paid.

For he women workers beween he ages o 16 and 44 ha we ocus on here, he

usage rae o parenal leavewheher covered by he FMLA or nois low. In

any given week, abou 0.7 percen o women in his age range are away rom work

o care or a newborn or recenly adoped child. Tis rae has remained remark-

ably sable over he las 20 years, wih no rend oward greaer use o parenal leave

in he wake o he FMLA.

Te share o women aking parenal leave is low across groups defined by age and

educaion. Even so, dispariies beween hese groups are sill large and persisen.

College-educaed women, paricularly hose in ull-ime and union jobs, are much

more likely o ake parenal leave han less-educaed, par-ime, nonunion women.


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Even wo decades afer he FMLA, so ew men ake parenal leave ha hey are

almos undeecable in he large governmen survey ha we analyze here. By our

esimaes, over he pas five years, nine women ook parenal leave or every man

who did so.

Te sory is similar when we look a he share o workers whose parenal leave ispaid.5Less han hal o workers on parenal leave are paid or heir ime offa

proporion ha has no changed in any meaningul way over he pas wo decades.

Older and beter-educaed women in ull-ime and union jobs are much more

likely o be paid while aking parenal leave, bu even among college-educaed

women, only a litle more han hal are paid during heir parenal leave. Te small

share o men who do ake parenal leave, however, are subsanially more likely

han women o be paid during ha leave.

We analyze daa rom he Census Bureaus large, naionally represenaive Curren

Populaion Survey, or CPS. Te CPS gahers deailed inormaion on a wide rangeo household demographics and labor marke aciviies. We ocus on worker

absences where parenal leave was cied as he reason or absence rom work and on

wheher ha leave was paid. While his analysis does no ell us wheher he indi-

vidual was covered by he FMLA or wheher he pay hey are receiving is only or

amily-leave benefis (as opposed o accrued paid sick or vacaion leave), i is sill

valuable in undersanding how raes o use o parenal leave have changed in he

wo decades since he passage o he FMLA. wo addiional limiaions are ha he

CPS only sared asking respondens abou parenal leave in 1994which means

we canno compare beore and afer he implemenaion o he FMLAand ha

i only idenifies workers who ook a leas a ull week o leave away rom work. We

explain hese limiaions more ully in our Daa and mehodology secion.


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Background:

The need for paid family leave

Economiss hypohesizebased on he heory o compensaing wage differen-

ialsha workers who need or value ime off will choose jobs ha offer his

flexibiliy and will be willing o rade off higher wages in exchange.6Bu, a leas

wih respec o paid parenal leave, he evidence does no suppor he heory.

Researchers have ound ha many workers appear o have limied abiliy o bar-

gain or hese benefis. Te workers who mos need workplace flexibiliy repor

having he leas access o i, and he workers who have he greaes access o flex-

ibiliy are higher paid.7Tis has real implicaions or he well-being o workers andheir amilies. For example, a young worker who is planning o sar a amily bu

who finds employmen a a business wih ewer han 50 employees may no have

a choice bu o ake he available job, despie a lack o guaraneed access o paid or

unpaid parenal leave.

Access o job-proeced or paid ime off, such as paid parenal leave, will shape

who acually akes ime off. Workers wih he leas access o ime off are going o

be leas likely o ake i because hey risk discipline rom heir employer or even

losing heir job.8On he oher hand, workers who have he mos secure employ-

men may be mos likely o use ime off. Unionized workers or public-secor

employees may be among hose wih he mos generous benefis and hus mos

likely o use ime off.

Tere are also reasons ha workers may ake ime off, regardless o wheher hey

have access o parenal leave. New parens, especially new mohers, may have no

choice bu o ake parenal leave because even hough hey are also increasingly

amily breadwinners, hey coninue o be more likely o be responsible or care.

Surveys have repored ha women, no heir husbands, are more likely o ake

parenal leave, say home o care or a sick child, or even care or an ailing amilymember, regardless o wheher he sick person is in he womans amily or her hus-

bands amily.9Furhermore, he rise in single moherhood means ha 40 percen

o working mohers are he primary caregiver and may be he only adul available

o care or a child.10


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Te realiy is ha he abiliy o access paid parenal leave is imporan o amily

economic well-being. Losing a days pay is a real hardship or many amilies. I

a low-wage worker making $10 an hour has a amily o wo children and misses

more han hree days o work wihou paid leave, he amily would all below he

povery line due o los wages.11Moreover, workers wih less educaionwho are

also more likely o be in low-paying jobs12

suffer disproporionaely when heyare orced o choose beween los wages or heir caregiving responsibiliies.13Tis

isn good or American amilies or he economy.

Paid parenal leave has made some progress a he sae level, and proposals or

ederal legislaion are also on he able. Tree saes now guaranee paid amily

leave, including paid parenal leave. Family leave insurance was implemened

in Caliornia in 2004 and in New Jersey in 2009, and a bill o implemen i was

signed ino law in Rhode Island in July 2013. Te resuls in Caliornia have been

promising. One sudy ound ha rom 1999 o 2010, he Caliornia paid leave

program doubled he overall use o maerniy leave rom hree o six weeks, espe-cially among he mos economically vulnerable groups, and increased he number

o hours ha working mohers o 1- o 3-year-olds worked each week.14Anoher

survey o Caliornia employers and employees conduced in 2009 and 2010 ound

ha he vas majoriy o businesses, while iniially earul o he coss o paid am-

ily leave, had experienced litle o no impac on heir operaions. Moreover, mos

businesses repored ha he legislaion had eiher a posiive effec or no noice-

able effec on worker produciviy, morale, and perormance.15

A naional program o cover all workers wih paid amily and medical leave,

such as he one proposed by he Cener or American Progress and oulined in

he FAMILY Ac legislaion proposed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-C) and Sen.

Kirsen Gillibrand (D-NY) would guaranee up o 12 weeks o paid leave or

workers who need ime away rom work o care or a new child, heir own long-

erm illness, or ake care o an elderly paren.16


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Taking parental leave

For each year rom 1994 hrough 2012, Figure

1 displays he share o workers ages 16 o 44

who ook parenal leave a some poin during

he year. Tree eaures o he figure sand ou.

Firs, he share o workers ha ake parenal

leave in any given year is very low: abou 0.3

percen o workers per year, averaged over he

wo decades since he FMLA was passed. Tislow rae holds even hough we have excluded

workers age 45 and older who are saisically

much less likely o have a new child.

Second, women are much more likely han

men o ake ime off rom work or parenal

leave. On average, abou 0.7 percen o 16- o

44-year-old women ook parenal leave per year,

compared o well below 0.1 percen or men. In

he las five years o available daa, he raio o

women o men aking parenal leave was 9-o-1.

Tird, he share o women aking leave shows no obvious rend over ime. Te

FMLA does no appear o have riggered a long-erm expansion in he use o

parenal leave among women in he age range ha is mos likely o ake advanage

o he laws proecions. For men, he daa do show a slow rise over ime in he rae

o parenal leave, bu he increase is rom near zero in 1994 o a level ha was sill

litle differen rom zero by 2012.17Given he small share o men aking parenal

leaveand he correspondingly small sample size in he CPS daa we analyzeherehe res o our discussion o he use o parenal leave will analyze only he

experience o women.

FIGURE 1

Workers, ages 16 to 44, taking parental leave

Source: Authors analysis of Current Population Survey data.

0.2

0.6

1.0

0

0.4

0.8

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Percentofworke

rs

Women All Men


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Te use o parenal leave is no uniorm across

women. As Figure 2 shows, women wih a

college degree are more likely o ake parenal

leave han women wih less educaionabou

an average rae o 1 percen over he period

rom 1994 hrough 2012 or college-educaedwomen, compared o abou 0.6 percen or

women wih some college or only a high school

degree and 0.4 percen or women wih less

han a high school degree. Women who work

ull ime are also more likely o ake parenal

leavea an average rae o 0.8 percen rom

1994 hrough 2012han women who work

par ime, a 0.5 percen, as shown in Figure 3.

A 0.8 percen, women in he public secor are

somewha more likely o do so han women inhe privae secor, a 0.7 percen, bu his small

gap has opened up only since abou 2000, as

shown in Figure 4. Te group wih he highes

likelihood o aking parenal leave is women

in unions, whose average rae is 1.1 percen,

compared o a rae o 0.7 percen or nonunion

women. (see Figure 5)

FIGURE 2

Workers, women ages 16 to 44,taking parental leave by education


0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

College+ Some College High School LT

Percentofworkers

1995

2000

2005

2010

0

0.6

1.0

0.4

0.2

0.8

Full-time Part-time

1995

2000

2005

2010

Percentofworkers

FIGURE 3

Workers, women ages 16 to 44,

taking parental leave by hours



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FIGURE 4

Workers, women ages 16 to 44,taking parental leave by sector


0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Percentofworkers

Public Private

0.5

0

1.0

1.5

2.0

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Union Non-union

Percentofworkers

Tese differences in amily-leave raes are

persisen over he wo decades since he pas-

sage o he FMLA. Te FMLA does no appear

o have promped a rise in he use o parenal

leave or women overall or or groups o women

defined by educaion level, ull-ime saus, orunion saus. Te only group o women ha has

shown some rising endency o ake parenal

leave is women in he public secor, bu he

increase here has been small in economic erms.

All he figures so ar have analyzed raw sur-

vey daa, wihou aking ino consideraion

changes over ime in he composiion o he

workorceworkers were, or example, beter

educaed in 2012 han hey were in 1994andwihou conrolling or sysemaic differences

across demographic groups. College-educaed

workers are, or example, also more likely o

work ull-ime. Figure 6 displays he resuls o

a saisical analysis ha atemps o correc or

any disorions ha may have been caused by

hese acors. Te figure shows he esimaed

effecs, averaged over he enire 1994 hrough

2012 period, o various worker characerisics

on he probabiliy ha a woman akes parenal

leave, conrolling or he workers age, educa-

ion, ull-ime or par-ime saus, union saus,

secor o employmen (public or privae), and

sae o residence.

FIGURE 5

Workers, women 16 to 44, taking parental leave

by union membership



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o help judge he economic significance o any

paricular esimae, remember ha on average

over he period rom 1994 hrough 2012, abou

0.7 percen o women ook parenal leave each

year. Each o he esimaed effecs in Figure 6

is expressed relaive o a benchmark workerand he benchmark differs across some o he

esimaes displayed in he able.

For he age-relaed esimaes, he benchmark

is women ages 20 o 24, wih all oher charac-

erisics assumed o be idenical o he aver-

age worker in he sample. So women workers

ages 16 o 19 are abou 0.4 percenage poins

less likely o ake parenal leave han a 20- o

24-year-old woman wih oherwise exaclyaverage characerisics. Women workers in he

25- o 34-year-old range were abou 0.2 percen-

age poins more likely han a 20- o 24-year-old counerpar o ake parenal leave.

And women ages 35 o 44 were abou 0.5 percenage poins less likely han a 20- o

24-year-old o ake parenal leave. All o hese resuls conrol or sysemaic differ-

ences across he age groups in educaional atainmen, ull-ime saus, employ-

men secor, union saus, and sae o residence. However, i is imporan o noe

ha women rom he ages o 20 o 34 are also he mos likely o have children.

For he educaion caegories, he reerence group is women workers wih high

school degrees. As he raw daa suggesed, beter-educaed women are much

more likely o ake parenal leave han women wih less educaion. Te saisical

analysis summarized in Figure 6 confirms ha, wih all oher acors consan, a

college-educaed woman is 0.3 percenage poins more likely o ake parenal leave

han a woman ha has only a high school degree, and abou 0.4 percenage poins

more likely han a woman wih less han a high school degree.18

Afer conrolling or age and educaion, ull-ime workers, who end o be older

and beter educaed, are sill abou 0.1 percenage poin more likely o ake paren-al leave han par-imers. Union women are much more likely, a 0.3 percenage

poins, han nonunion women o ake parenal leave.

FIGURE 6

Effect on probability of taking parental leave

Source: Authors analysis of Current Population Survey data. Italicized values not statistically signific

-0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

0.28

-0.06

0.06

0.01

0.30

-0.47

0.12

0.22

-0.37

Female

Union

College+

Age 2534

Age 3544

Age 1619

LTHS

Some college

Full-timePublic Sector


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In general, he saisical analysis reinorces he findings rom he raw daa. Beter-

educaed, ull-ime, union women are more likely han heir oherwise idenical

counerpars o ake parenal leave. Te only case where he saisical analysis

reverses he findings rom he raw daa is wih respec o public-secor workers. In

he raw daa, public-secor workers were somewha more likely o ake parenal

leave, a abou 0.1 percenage poin. Bu women in he public secor also end obe beter educaed and more likely o be in ull-ime jobs. Afer conrolling or

hese acors, women in he public secor appear o be somewha less likely

abou 0.1 percenage poino ake parenal leave han privae-secor workers.

Te firs row o Figure 6 confirms ha even afer we conrol or a range o worker

characerisics, women are much more likely (abou 0.6 percenage poins) han

men o ake parenal leave.

Te same saisical analysis also confirms ha parenal leave aking showed no

endency o increase in he wo decades afer passage o he FMLA.


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Paid parental leave

Te CPS daa also allow us o deermine wheher any parenal leave was paid. Te

survey does no disinguish beween workers who received ormal paid amily

or parenal leave and workers who pieced ogeher paid ime off by using some

combinaion o vacaion, sick, and oher orms o paid leave. Bu we can deer-

mine wheher any worker ha ook ime off or amily or parenal leave was paid

hrough some mechanism during ha ime off.

For women, he share o 16- o 44-year-oldworkers whose parenal leave was paid held

remarkably seady over he pas wo decades

a abou 45 percen, as seen in Figure 7. Te

share or men was much higheralmos 70

percenbu highly erraic, reflecing he very

small sample o men aking parenal leave in he

CPS. For a urher discussion, see he Daa and

Mehodology secion. Given hese problems

wih he sample size, as wih he preceding

discussion o use o parenal leave, he res o

our analysis o paid leave will analyze only he

experience o women.

Te likelihood ha a woman is paid or her

parenal leave varies subsanially around he

overall average o 45 percen. For he mos par,

differences in paid leave ollow he patern we

saw earlier or he use o parenal leave. Beter-

educaed, ull-ime, unionized women are morelikely, someimes much more likely, o be paid during he parenal leave. In he raw

daa, public-secor workers are also more likely o be paid while on parenal leave,

bu his difference disappears once we accoun or public-secor workers higher

levels o educaion and he greaer likelihood o working ull ime.

FIGURE 7

Paid parental leave, workers ages 16 to 44

Source: Authors analysis of Current Population Survey data. *Correction, December 13, 2013: This fi

incorrectly stated that the red line represented menand the blue line represented women. The legabove is correct.

0

20

40

60

80

100

Women All Men

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Percentofworkers


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FIGURE 9

Paid parental leave, women ages 1644, by hours

Over he pas wo decades, on average, abou

55 percen o women wih a college degree or

more who ook parenal leave were paid dur-

ing ha leave, as you can see in Figure 8. By

conras, only 35 percen o women wih a high

school degree and jus 25 percen o womenwih less han a high school degree were paid

during heir leaves.

Full-ime workers were abou wice as likely as

par-imersabou 50 percen or ull-imers,

versus abou 25 percen or par-imerso be

paid during heir parenal leaves. (see Figure 9)

In he raw daa, slighly more han 50 percen o

public-secor workers and less han 45 perceno privae-secor women were paid while on

parenal leave. (see Figure 10) Tough, as we

shall see below, his sligh advanage or he

public secor evaporaes once we conrol or

educaion levels and oher acors.

FIGURE 8

Paid parental leave, women ages 16 to 44, by educa


0

20

40

60

80

100

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

College+ Some College High School L

Percentofworkers

0

20

40

60

80

100

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Full-time Part-time

Percentofworkers



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Almos 55 percen o union workers who ook

parenal leave were paid, compared o jus

under 45 percen o nonunion workers. (see

Figure 11)

Once again, he daa show persisen dis-pariies over ime. Beter-educaed women in

ull-ime, union jobs are subsaniallyand

consisenlymore likely han less-educaed

par-imers o be paid when hey ake parenal

leave. Figure 12 demonsraes hawih one

excepionhese paterns hold even afer we

conrol or workers characerisics ha migh

be conounding he analysis.

FIGURE 10

Paid parental leave, women ages 1644, by sector

0

20

40

60

80

100

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Percentofworkers

Public Private


FIGURE 11

Paid parental leave, women ages 16 to 44,

by union membership

0

20

40

60

80

100

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Percentofworkers

Union Non-union



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Older workers are much more likely han

younger workers o be paid while hey are on

parenal leave. Women ages 25 o 34 and 35 o

44 were abou 15 percenage poins more likely

han women ages 20 o 24 o be paid when

hey were on parenal leave. Meanwhile, 16- o19-year-old women were abou 15 percenage

poins less likely han 20- o 24-year-olds o

have paid parenal leave.

Even afer conrolling or a range o characeris-

ics, women wih a college degree were 15 per-

cenage poins more likely o have paid parenal

leave han a comparable worker wih only a

high school educaion. Women ha didn fin-

ish high school were abou 10 percenage poinsless likely han hose wih a high school degree o have paid parenal leave.

Full-ime saus also considerably booss he probabiliy o being paid during

parenal leave. A ull-ime woman was abou 25 percenage poins more likely o

be paid when aking leave han an oherwise idenical par-imer.

Union workers were also abou 6 percenage poins more likely han nonunion

workers o be paid during parenal leave.

In he raw daa, public-secor workers were more likely han workers in he privae

secor o receive pay during a parenal leave. Bu ha advanage disappears once

we conrol or oher worker characerisics including educaional atainmen and

ull-ime saus. Afer hese conrols, public-secor workers are slighly less likely

o receive pay while on leave, bu he difference is no saisically significan.

Te firs row o Figure 12 documens one final finding o he more ormal saisi-

cal analysis ha was no immediaely obvious rom our look a he raw daa. Afer

conrolling or a range o worker characerisics, over he pas wo decades, men

who ook parenal leave were subsanially more likely han women who ookleave o be paid or ha ime off. On average, since 1994, men who ook paren-

al leave were abou 20 percenage poins more likely o be paid or ha leave

han women were. Tis observaion, however, needs careul inerpreaion. Te

underlying CPS daa do no repor wheher or no an employer offered paid am-

FIGURE 12

Effect on probability that parental leave is paid


-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 2

-20.8

-2.5

-10.1

-14.5

6.2

24

15.2

6.9

16.4

14.7

Female

LTHS

Public Sector

Union

Full-time

College+

Some college

Age 3544

Age 2534

Age 1619


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ily or parenal leave, or offered oher orms o paid ime off such as vacaion, sick,

and oher orms o leave ha could be used o finance parenal leave. From he

CPS daa, we only know wheher a workers parenal leave was paid once they had

already taken the leave. While i is cerainly possibleeven likelyha men work

in indusries, occupaions, and firms ha are more likely o offer paid parenal

leave, we believe ha his finding in Figure 12 is more likely o reflec ha men aremore inclined han women o reuse o ake parenal leave when i is no paid. As

a resul, he small number o men ha we do observe aking parenal leave have a

higher observed rae o being paid or ha leave.

In summary, since he passage o he FMLA in 1993, ewer han hal o all workers

who ook parenal leave were paid or ha ime off. Beter-educaed women who

work ull ime and are represened by a union are more likely han oher kinds o

workers o be paid or heir ime off. Bu he share o women who were paid or

heir parenal leave has remained virually unchanged in he wo decades since he

passage o he FMLA.


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Conclusion

Our review o he daa pains a sobering picure o he impac o he Family and

Medical Leave Ac. wo decades afer he FMLA was implemened, only a small

share o U.S. workers ake parenal leave, including a minuscule share o men. Te

share o workers aking leave has no shown any endency o increase in he wake

o he FMLA. Nor does i seem ha he FMLA has conribued in any obvious

way o reducing longsanding dispariies in parenal leave raes beween more- and

less-educaed women or ull-ime and par-ime workers.

One possible explanaion or he limied impac o he FMLA is he laws eligibil-

iy crieria, which leave abou 40 percen o workers uncovered. A more likely

reason or he limied impac o he FMLA, however, is he laws ailure o provide

paid leave. Fewer han hal o he workers aking amily leave are paid during heir

ime away rom work, a proporion ha has sayed remarkably sable even wo

decades afer he passage o he FMLA.

Addiional daa colleced rom he Bureau o Labor Saisics American ime

Use Survey, or AUS; he U.S. Census Bureaus Survey o Income and Program

Paricipaion, or SIPP; and surveys commissioned by he Deparmen o Labor

on he effecs o he FMLA can also ell us more abou who uses unpaid and

paid parenal leave.19I is imporan o noe ha here may be differences in he

repored use o leave due o differences in he ocus and mehods o hese surveys.

For example, he Censuss SIPP, while exensive, does no ask wheher leave was

paid or unpaid. Te DOLs surveys have been inermiten and he populaions

surveyed are much smaller han in he SIPP. Te AUS ocuses on how approxi-

maely 12,000 respondens per year allocaed heir ime on one day o he year.

More limied surveys o he effecs o parenal leave laws on new mohers employ-

men and use o leave also exis, bu mos are limied o he years beore or jusafer he implemenaion o he FMLA.20


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Tere are some imporan seps we canand shouldake o make sure ha no

worker, o eiher gender or any level o educaion, has o choose beween an impor-

an amily-relaed obligaion and an urgen work one. Universal paid amily and

parenal leave would help boh women and men. Currenly, women are more likely

o use hese benefisboh paid and unpaidin par because hey are radiion-

ally seen as he caregivers in amilies. Making all leave paid would reduce he sigmaaround aking leave and encourage men o ake leave insead o jus expecing

women o do so.21Tis would also help close he gender wage gap by ensuring men

and women sruck a more equal balance beween work and amily obligaions.

Since paid amily leave, as implemened in Caliornia, New Jersey, and Rhode

Island does no rely on he employer o bear he ull cos,22i would make a huge

difference, especially or workers wih less educaion who are he leas likely o

ake ime away rom work o care or a new child. Care in he firs ew monhs o

a childs lie is key o ensuring ha child sars ou on he righ rack or he res o

his or her lie.23Parens should no have o choose beween a paycheck and caringor a newborn during hese crucial monhs.

Addiional advanages o businesses o providing paid leave include increased

worker produciviy24and reduced worker urnover.25Workers wih benefis such as

paid sick days, paid amily leave, paid vacaion, and paid parenal leave repor higher

levels o job saisacion, which also helps reduce cosly urnover.26Replacing an

employee coss a business abou one-fifh o an employees annual salary.27

All new parens should be afforded he choice o say home and care or heir

newborns wihou puting heir livelihoods on he line. Tese resuls are also a

reminder ha here sill exis significan dispariies in access o qualiy jobs wih

benefis such as paid parenal leave or women and workers wih less educaion.

Making paid amily leaveand hereby paid parenal leaveuniversal would be

an imporan sep oward making good, qualiy jobs available o all workers.28


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About the authors

Heather Bousheyis a Senior Fellow a he Cener or American Progress, where

her research ocuses on inequaliy and growh, U.S. employmen, social policy,

and amily economic well-being. She co-edied Te Shriver Report: A Womans

Nation Changes Everything (Simon & Schuser ebook, 2009) and was a lead auhoro Bridging he Gaps, a 10-sae sudy abou how low- and moderae-income

working amilies are lef ou o work suppor programs. Her research has been

published in academic journals and has been covered widely in he media, includ-

ing regular appearances on PBS NewsHour and in Te New York imes, where

she was called one o he mos vibran voices in he field. She also spearheaded a

successul campaign o save he Census Bureaus Survey o Income and Program

Paricipaion rom devasaing budge cus.

Boushey received her Ph.D. in economics rom he New School or Social

Research and her B.A. rom Hampshire College. She has held an economis posi-ion wih he Join Economic Commitee o he U.S. Congress, he Cener or

Economic and Policy Research, and he Economic Policy Insiue, where she was

a co-auhor o heir flagship publicaion, Te State of Working America 2002/3.

She grew up in a union amily in Mukileo, Washingon, and now lives wih her

husband, odd ucker, in Washingon, D.C.

Jane Farrellis a Research Associae or Economic Policy a American Progress.

Jane graduaed rom Emory Universiy in 2011 wih a B.A. in poliical science.

She spen he summer o 2011 working as he domesic inern a he Cener

or Economic and Policy Research beore saring a he Cener or American

Progress in Sepember 2011. She also inerned a he Roosevel Insiue in 2009

and a he Naional Academy o Social Insurance in 2010, where she was an

income securiy inern.

John Schmittis a senior economis wih he Cener or Economic and Policy

Research in Washingon, D.C. He has writen exensively on economic inequaliy,

unemploymen, labor-marke insiuions, work-lie balance, and oher opics or

boh academic and popular audiences. He has co-auhored hree ediions o Te

State of Working America (Cornell Universiy Press) and co-ediedLow-Wage Workin the Wealthy World (Russell Sage Foundaion, 2010). Since 1999, he has been a

visiing lecurer a he Pompeu Fabra Universiy in Barcelona. He has an under-

graduae degree rom he Woodrow Wilson School o Public and Inernaional

Affairs a Princeon Universiy and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in economics rom he

London School o Economics.


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Data and methodology

Te main source o daa used here is he Curren Populaion Survey, or CPS, a

monhly, naionally represenaive survey o 50,000 o 60,000 households, which

includes deailed inormaion on he demographic and labor marke characer-

isics o he civilian, noninsiuional populaion o he Unied Saes. Tis is he

same source he governmen uses o calculae he monhly official unemploy-

men rae. We have pooled all monhs o he 19 years o he survey rom 1994

hrough 2012. We ocus on a se o quesions ha examine absences rom work.

I he CPS inerviewer deermines ha a worker was absen rom work during hesurveys reerence weekhe week ha includes he 12h o he monhhen

he worker is asked he reason or he absence. Te CPS organizes responses ino

14 possible aciviies, including on layoff, childcare problems, and vacaion/

personal days. We classiy a responden as aking parenal leave i a worker says

ha he or she was absen rom work on Maerniy/paerniy leave. Te CPS does

no disinguish beween parenal leave covered by he FMLA and oher orms

o parenal leave. I a worker missed only par o he week or parenal leave, ha

worker will no be couned as having been on parenal leave.

Beginning only in 1994, he year afer he FMLA passed, respondens could lis

maerniy or paerniy leave as he reason or heir absence. In his repor, we

examine he share o workers who repor ha hey missed work because hey

were on maerniy or paerniy leave, which we reer o as parenal leave. We also

analyze he share o workers on parenal leave who indicae ha heir employers

paid hem during heir leave.

o our knowledge, his repor is he firs atemp o use he CPS o gaugeover

ime, and on a naional scalehe use o parenal leave and he likelihood ha i

is paid or all workers ages 16 o 44.29

We limi our analysis o workers ages 16 o44 because almos no workers in he CPS age 45 and older ake parenal leave. We

urher limi he majoriy o our analysis o women in his age range because ew

men in he CPS indicae ha hey ook parenal leave.


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Bu we wan o underscore several limiaions o our analysis. Firs, he CPS daa

do no allow us o deermine wheher an individual was covered by he FMLA.

Te CPS does noexcep in periodic surveys ha cover only a small racion o

he daa we analyze herecollec inormaion on he size o businesses in a way

ha coincides wih he FMLAs crieria or he ime a worker has been wih ha

business, so we canno esimae wheher an individual worker would likely meehe FMLAs coverage crieria. As a resul, we canno disinguish beween leaves

covered by he FMLA and hose no covered. Tereore, we insead examine

wheher he FMLA has had a discernible effec on he overall use o parenal leave.

A second limiaion o he CPS is ha is quesion concerning pay during parenal

leave does no disinguish beween workers who received dedicaed amily-leave

benefis and workers who engage in he common pracice o piecing ogeher paid

ime off using vacaion, sick, and oher orms o leave. As a resul, we canno esi-

mae he share o workers who receive dedicaed maerniy or paerniy benefis

hrough heir employer.

A hird limiaion is ha he CPS only began o ask respondens abou maerniy

and paerniy leave in 1994, he year afer he FMLA was implemened, which

means we canno do any beore-and-afer evaluaions o he FMLA. Insead, we

ocus on rends over ime and differences across demographic groups in he use o

parenal leave since FMLA implemenaion.

A final limiaion o he CPS is ha we can only ideniy parenal leaves when

hey include a leas one ull week away rom work. As a consequence, we likely

underesimae he use o parenal leave. Some parens ake parenal leave on a

par-ime basis, working several days a week while aking off he remainder, and

someimes alernaing days away rom work wih a second paren who akes he

same approach. Since hese parens would no be missing a ull week o work, he

CPS would no ideniy hem as aking parenal leave.

Wih hese caveas in mind, he repor uses he CPS o esimae he share o he

workorce who ake a leas a week o parenal leave each year, and he share o

hose aking leave who are paid or heir ime off.


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Endnotes

1 The FMLA also gave covered workers the right to takeup to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for placementof a child in foster care; to care for a spouse, child, orparent with a health condition; or to take time off if theemployee has a serious health condition. We focus hereexclusively on the family or parental leave component

of the act.

2 U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division,FMLA is Working, available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/survey/FMLA_Survey_factsheet.pdf.

3 The employers 50 employees must be located within75 miles of the employees workplace. For more infor-mation, see U.S. Department of Labor, Leave Benefits:Family & Medical Leave, available at http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/benefits-leave/fmla.htm.

4 Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, Comprehen-sive Paid Family and Medical Leave for Todays Familiesand Workplaces (Washington: Center for AmericanProgress, 2012), available at http://www.american-progress.org/issues/labor/report/2012/09/19/38404/comprehensive-paid-family-and-medical-leave-for-todays-families-and-workplaces/.

5 Workers who received pay during their parental leavemay or may not receive employer-provided parentalleave. Most workers with some form of paid parentalleave use other forms of paid leave, including paidvacation, paid holiday, and paid sick days, to financetheir parental leave. For more information, see HeatherBoushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, The Effects of PaidFamily and Medical Leave on Employment Stability andEconomic Security (Washington: Center for AmericanProgress, 2012), available at http://www.american-progress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/04/pdf/BousheyEmploymentLeave1.pdf.

6 Sherwin Rosen, The Theory of Equalizing Differences.In Orley Ashenfelter and Richard Layard, eds., Hand-book of Labor Economics, vol. 1 (Amsterdam: Elsevier,1986), pp. 642692.

7 Elaine McCrate, Flexible Hours, Workplace Author-ity, and Compensating Wage Differentials in the U.S.,Feminist Economics11 (1) (2005): 1139; Lonnie Golden,Flexible Daily Work Schedules in U.S. Jobs: Formal In-troductions Needed?, Industrial Relations48 (1) (2009):2754; Robert Drago, Mark Wooden, and David Black,Who Wants and Gets Flexibility? Changing Work HoursPreferences and Life Events, Industrial & Labor RelationsReview62 (3) (2009).

8 Joan C. Williams, One Sick Child Away from Being Fired:When Opting Out Is Not an Option (San Francisco:University of California Hastings College of the Law,2006), available at http://www.worklifelaw.org/pubs/onesickchild.pdf; David Muir, Rich McHugh, and R adhaChitale, Walmart Defends Sick Leave Policy DespiteH1N1 Fears, ABC News, November 6, 2009, availableat http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/walmart-defends-sick-leave-policy-good-morning-america/

story?id=9013693.

9 Robert OBlock, Working Women More Likely ThanMen to Stay Home with Sick Children, Annals of Psycho-therapy and Integrative Health, March 2008, availableat http://www.annalsofpsychotherapy.com/articles/spring08.php?topic=article5; Dawn Fuller, WorkingParents Who Puts Family First When a Child GetsSick?, University of Cincinnati, August 13, 2007, avail-able at http://www.uc.edu/News/NR.aspx?ID=6152;Suzanne M. Bianchi, John P. Robinson, and Melissa A.Milkie, Changing Rhythms of American Family Life(NewYork: Russell Sage Foundation, 2007).

10 Wendy Wang, Kim Parker, and Paul Taylor, BreadwinnerMoms (Washington: Pew Research Center, 2013), avail-able at http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2013/05/Breadwinner_moms_final.pdf.

11 Elise Gould, Kai Filion, and Andrew Green, The Need for

Paid Sick Days (Washington: Economic Policy Institute,2011), available at http://w3.epi-data.org/temp2011/BriefingPaper319-2.pdf.

12 Susan Egerter and others, Education Mattersfor Health (Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation, 2009), available at http://www.commis-siononhealth.org/PDF/c270deb3-ba42-4fbd-baeb-2cd65956f00e/Issue%20Brief%206%20Sept%2009%20-%20Education%20and%20Health.pdf.

13 Lisa Clemans-Cope and others, Access to and Use ofPaid Sick Leave Among Low-Income Families WithChildren, Pediatrics122 (2) (2008): e480e486, availableat http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/2/e480.full.pdf+html.

14 Maya Rossin-Slater, Christopher J. Ruhm, and JaneWaldfogel, The Effects of Californias Paid Family Leave

Program on Mothers Leave-Taking and SubsequentLabor Market Outcomes,Journal of Policy Analysis andManagement32 (2) (2012): 224245.

15 Eileen Appelbaum and Ruth Milkman, Leaves That Pay:Employer and Worker Experiences with Paid FamilyLeave in California (Washington: Center for Economicand Policy Research, 2011).

16 Boushey and Glynn, Comprehensive Paid Family andMedical Leave for Todays Families and Workplaces .

17 A simple regression of the share of women taking leavein each year against a time trend produces a coefficienton the time trend of 0.0026 with a t-statistic of 1.23. Formen, the coefficient on the time trend is .0018 with at-statistic of 6.83.

18 The college/high school differential can be read directly

from Figure 6. For the college/less than high schoolgap, add the 0.1 percentage-point difference betweenhigh school and less than high school, which also ap-pears in Figure 6.

19 Lynda Laughlin, Maternity Leave and Employment Pat-terns of First-Time Mothers: 19612008 (Washington:U.S. Census Bureau, 2011), available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p70-128.pdf; Bureau ofLabor Statistics, Access to and Use of Leave2011Data from the American Time Use Survey, Newsrelease, August 16, 2012, available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/leave.pdf; Abt Associates, Familyand Medical Leave in 2 012: Technical Report (2012),available at http://www.dol.gov/asp/evaluation/fmla/FMLA-2012-Technical-Report.pdf.

20 Wen-Jui Han, Christopher Ruhm, and Jane Waldfogel,Parental Leave Policies and Parents Employment and

Leave-Taking,Journal of Policy Analysis and Manage-ment 28 (1) (2009): 2954.

21 Scott Coltrane and others, Fathers and the FlexibilityStigma,Journal of Social Issues69 (2) (2013): 279302;Laurie A. Rudman and Kris Mescher, Penalizing MenWho Request a Family Leave: Is Flexibility Stigma aFemininity Stigma?,Journal of Social Issues69 (2)(2013): 322340.


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22 Ann OLeary, Matt Chayt, and Eve Weissman, SocialSecurity Cares (Washington: Center for AmericanProgress, 2012), available at http://www.american-progress.org/issues/labor/report/2012/09/27/39331/social-security-cares/.

23 Lawrence M. Berger, Jennifer Hill, and Jane Waldfogel,Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment andChild Health and Development in the US,The EconomicJournal115 (February 2005): F29F47.

24 Vicky Lovell, No Time to Be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers

When Workers Dont Have Sick Leave (Washington, DC:Institute for Womens Policy R esearch, 2003).

25 Eliza K. Pavalko and Kathryn A. Henderson, CombiningCare Work and Paid Work: Do Workplace Policies Makea Difference?, Research on Aging28 (3) (2006): 359374;Steven Grover and K aren Crooker, Who AppreciatesFamily-Responsive Human Resource Policies: The Im-pact of Family-Friendly Policies on the OrganizationalAttachment of Parents and Non-Parents, PersonnelPsychology48 (2) (1995): 271288.

26 Joan Williams, Unbending Gender: Why Family and WorkConflict and What to Do About It(New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 2000).

27 Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, There AreSignificant Business Costs to Replacing Employees(Washington: Center for American Progress, 2012),

available at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2012/11/16/44464/there-are-significant-business-costs-to-replacing-employees/.

28 John Schmitt, Janelle Jones, Making Jobs Good(Washington, DC: Center for Economic and PolicyResearch, 2013), available at http://www.cepr.net/docu-ments/publications/good-jobs-policy-2013-04.pdf.

29 Rossin-Slater, Ruhm, and Waldfogel (2012) use the sameCPS variables to estimate the impact of Californias2003 state-level paid family leave program on the take-up of parental leave. Han, Ruhm, and Waldfogel (2009)express take-up rates not as a share of all workers in aparticular age range over the course of an entire year,but rather as a share of all new parents in the month

(or longer periods) after the birth or adoption. Thetake-up rates expressed in these terms are much higherthan what we report here. Moreover, Han, Ruhm, andWaldfogel find no obvious trends up after 1994 in anyof their indicators except in the likelihood in the shareof men taking parental leave in the first month afterbirth, although this trend began before 1994. For moredetails, see Rossin-Slater, Ruhm, and Waldfogel, TheEffects of Californias Paid Family Leave Program onMothers Leave-Taking and Subsequent Labor MarketOutcomes; Han, Ruhm, and Waldfogel, Parental LeavePolicies and Parents Employment and Leave-Taking.


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dedicated to promoting a strong, just, and free America that ensures opportunity

for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to

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Documents

Job Protection Isn’t Enough