Paid family leave: supporting work attachment among lower income mothers

ABSTRACT

Around the time of childbirth, low-income families are at particular economic risk for reasons including mothers’ relatively high levels of separation from work. Lower wage jobs typically come with minimal paid leave that can be used at childbirth. Paid Family Leave (PFL) programs provide partially subsidized wages to new parents. Quantitative research links PFL with greater post-birth work attachment among mothers, including lower wage mothers. This qualitative study sought to explore factors that facilitate – and inhibit – lower income mothers’ returns to work following childbirth and the role of PFL programs. Seventy-one percent of the 75 mothers in the study returned to work. They cited their need for income, desire for financial independence, preference for combining work and caregiving, supportive workplace practices, family help, and accessible and trustworthy child care. They described ways PFL supported employment, especially for single mothers and those with the fewest family resources. Twenty-nine percent of the mothers left work after childbirth for reasons including child care costs, a desire (or need) to remain home rather than work, low job quality, lack of job protection, and PFL program limitations. The findings suggest future research directions and pathways for service providers and others to support these families.

RESUMEN

Las familias de bajos ingresos corren un riesgo económico alrededor del tiempo de tener un nuevo bebe en parte porque las madres enfrentan niveles relativamente más altos de separación de sus empleos. Los trabajos con sueldos bajos por lo general vienen con poco permiso pagado que puede utilizarse en el momento del parto.

Los programas de Permiso Familiar Pagado (PFL, por sus siglas en inglés), en los estados que los tienen, proporcionan salarios parciales a los nuevos padres. Investigaciones cuantitativas establecen una relación positiva entre el PFL y el apego laboral postparto entre las madres, incluidas las madres con salarios más bajos. Este estudio cualitativo buscó identificar los factores que facilitan e inhiben la reincorporación al trabajo de las madres de bajos ingresos y el papel del PFL.

El setenta y uno por ciento de las 75 madres en el estudio regresaron al trabajo. Citaron su necesidad de tener ingresos, su deseo de independencia financiera, su preferencia por trabajar y ser madre a la vez, empleadores que acomodaban sus responsabilidades familiares, ayuda familiar, y cuido infantil accesible y confiable. Describieron las formas en que el PFL apoyaba el empleo, especialmente para las madres solteras o con menos recursos familiares.

El veintinueve por ciento de las madres dejaron sus trabajos después del parto por razones que incluían los costos del cuido infantil, el deseo (o necesidad) de permanecer en el hogar en vez de trabajar, la baja calidad del trabajo, la falta de protección laboral, y las limitaciones del programa PFL.

Los resultados sugieren temas para estudios futuros y maneras en que los proveedores de servicios sociales, empleadores y otros puedan apoyar a las madres de bajos ingresos.

KEYWORDS:

• Paid family leave
• social policy
• low-income families
• work-family policy

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Permiso Familiar Pagado
• La política social
• Familias de bajos ingresos
• La política de conciliación de la vida familiar y laboral

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 State PFL programs also provide financial support for care of certain other family members, but the majority of claims were for bonding with newborns, and that is the focus of this paper.

2 For more detailed information, see the National Partnership for Women and Families compendium, ‘State Paid Family Leave Insurance Laws (2019),’ available at: http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/paid-leave/state-paid-family-leave-laws.pdf

3 This does not add up to 100 percent because of rounding errors.

4 We recognize that for some of these mothers, the language of ‘decisions’ is not entirely accurate since they appeared to have few options. Further, some mothers who did not return had been fired, in which case finding a new job with an infant could be difficult.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pamela Winston

Pamela Winston is a senior researcher in Human Services Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where her portfolio includes work-family and other supports for low-income families. Prior to joining ASPE, she was a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, and a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She has a B.A. from Swarthmore College, an M.B.A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins.

Elizabeth Coombs

Elizabeth Coombs is an associate at Mission Analytics Group, Inc., a women-owned small business that promotes effective public strategies to support vulnerable children and adults to be safe and healthy living in the community. She directs projects and leads qualitative research and technical assistance related to paid family leave policy, HIV and hepatitis C care delivery, and Medicaid-funded home and community-based services. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Rashaun Bennett

Rashaun Bennett is the senior program associate at the National Youth Employment Coalition, a membership organization committed to expanding access and opportunity for youth in the United States. He was previously a Human Services Policy Truman Fellow/Analyst, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He is a graduate of Davidson College.

Lauren Antelo

Lauren Antelo is a senior social science analyst in Human Services Policy, ASPE, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her work focuses on child support enforcement, family strengthening, and employment policy for low-income and vulnerable populations. Prior to federal service, she was a deputy director at United Neighborhood Houses of New York and a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia. She holds a BS from New York University and MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School.

Patrick Landers

Patrick Landers is a project assistant with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He recently graduated with a Master’s degree from UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs. He previously worked as a research analyst at MDRC and summer associate at the Congressional Budget Office.

Marissa Abbott

Marissa Abbott is a PhD student in social welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a project assistant at the Institute for Research on Poverty. Her research focuses on child maltreatment prevention, including programs and policies that support family well-being. Prior to graduate school, she worked as an epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health.