How much would family and medical leave cost workers in the US? Racial/ethnic variation in economic hardship under unpaid and paid policies

ABSTRACT

Using a capability approach, this study assesses economic constraints under the current US national unpaid family and medical leave (FML) policy compared to a hypothetical national paid FML policy for all full-year workers. Existing literature documents gender and class differences in barriers to FML use, but there is limited research on racial/ethnic minority workers. Our results indicate that if FML policy changed from unpaid to paid leave, black workers would gain a greater percentage of family income back relative to white workers, due in part to their larger wage contributions to family income. However, moving to a paid FML policy has a lower likelihood of preventing short-term economic hardship for black and Hispanic workers, compared to white workers. Our findings are consistent with studies, of which there are few, that show that paid FML can decrease, but not eliminate, disparities in black and Hispanic working mothers’ capability to take up parental leave and use leave for longer durations. Therefore, further design modifications to FML policy are needed for paid leave to be fully protective of all workers who need to take leave without facing economic hardship.

RESUMEN

Utilizando un enfoque de capacidad, este estudio evalúa las limitaciones económicas en la licencia familiar y médica (FML) nacional no remunerada de los EE. UU. en comparación con una hipotética política nacional de FML remunerada para todos los trabajadores de año completo. La literatura documenta las diferencias de género y clase en las barreras para el uso de FML, pero hay investigaciones limitadas sobre los trabajadores de minorías raciales/étnicas. Nuestros resultados indican que si la política de FML cambió de licencias no remuneradas a licencias remuneradas, los trabajadores negros recuperarían un mayor porcentaje de los ingresos familiares con relación a trabajadores blancos, en parte porque sus salarios representan un porción mas grande a los ingresos familiares. Sin embargo, cambiando a una política FML remunerada tiene una menor probabilidad de prevenir dificultades económicas a corto plazo para los trabajadores negros e hispanos, en comparación con los trabajadores blancos. Nuestros resultados son consistentes con otros estudios, de los cuales hay pocos, que muestran que la FML remunerado puede disminuir, pero no eliminar, las disparidades raciales/étnicas en la capacidad de las madres trabajadoras para utilizar la licencia parental y tomarla por períodos más largos. Por consiguiente, se necesitan más modificaciones de diseño a FML para garantizar que todos los trabajadores que necesitan licencia puedan tomarla sin enfrentar dificultades económicas.

KEYWORDS:

• Paid leave
• parental leave
• medical leave
• capability
• racial/ethnic disparities
• poverty

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Licencia remunerada
• licencia parental
• licencia médica
• capacidad
• disparidades raciales/étnicas
• pobreza

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pamela Joshi

Pamela Joshi, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist and the Associate Director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Dr. Joshi researches employment and family support policies targeting vulnerable families, parental working conditions and the effects on children, and the impact of employment and early childhood programs policies on racial/ethnic health disparities.

Maura Baldiga

Maura Baldiga, MCP is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research focuses on equity issues related to family and medical leave, affordable housing, and affordable childcare. Her research interests center on inequality relating to work and employment conditions, family policy, and neighborhood change.

Alison Earle

Alison Earle, PhD is a Senior Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center, Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. Dr. Earle's research focuses on how labor and employment policies affect the health, wellbeing, and economic security of working families in the United States and worldwide. Dr. Earle conducted some of the first national studies on disparities in access to paid leave and schedule flexibility in the United States, and the first globally comparative analysis of paid sick days policies.

Rebecca Huber

Rebecca Huber, MPP is a Research Associate at the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research focuses on demographic change, family and medical leave, and childcare subsidies. Her research interests are on issues relating to women and work, with a particular focus on low wage labor and racial/ethnic equity.

Theresa Osypuk

Theresa Osypuk, SD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the School of Public Health at University of Minnesota and a faculty member of the Minnesota Population Center. As a social epidemiologist, Dr. Osypuk's research examines why place and other social exposures influence health and health equity, including the roles of racial residential segregation, neighborhood context, socioeconomic position, and social policies. Dr. Osypuk's program of scholarship explores how seemingly ‘non-health related’ social policies may reduce racial/ethnic health disparities.

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, PhD is Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, and the Director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research focuses on the social determinants of racial/ethnic inequities in health; the role of social policies in reducing those inequities; and the health and well-being of children with special needs.