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Title: The Inclusiveness of Current Paid Family and Medical Leave Policies and the Proposed FAMILY Act
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: In his April 2021 address to Congress, President Biden announced plans to provide a national paid medical and family leave program. The United States is currently the only Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country without a national paid leave policy. However, momentum for paid leave has surged in recent years. There are currently nine states (and Washington, DC) with paid family and medical leave (PFML) programs, and there is growing bipartisan support for a national paid leave program. To ensure that paid leave programs are equitable across population groups, policymakers need research that examines potential disparate impacts of proposed PFML policies. Our research addresses three questions: (1) What percentage of US workers would be eligible for paid leave under potential leave policies? (2) How would eligibility rates under these policies vary for different population groups (i.e., by gender, race, age, education, total family income, urban/rural status, industry, occupation, and parental status)? And (3) What would workers’ average weekly benefits be under these policies and how would they vary for different groups? We compared the average benefit amount for the FAMILY Act, a proposed national program sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and the three longest-running state PFML policies. We found that the FAMILY Act would cover the most workers of any PFML policy. We attribute this to its low earnings requirement ($1 in the last year) and its inclusion of workers from all sectors and industries. We found that among state paid leave programs, New Jersey has the most generous average weekly benefits, which we attribute to its high reimbursement rate. We end our report with recommendations for developing eligibility and wage replacement structures for future PFML programs that would ensure greater equity of paid leave programs as well as suggestions for further research. Findings and recommendations from this report are even more salient given recently released proposals on PFML within the Biden-Harris administration’s American Families Plan and the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s Building an Economy for Families Act.1,2 While this analysis was conducted prior to the release of these proposals, the findings provide important lessons for structuring paid leave programs to maximize access and equity.
Url: https://www.nccp.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Paid-Leave-Report_6.2.21.pdf
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Authors: Jacobson, Tate; Sir, Molly; Wu, Emma
Publisher: Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Poverty and Welfare
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