Can Working Women and Men Afford to Take Paid Leave? A Comparative Study of the Level of Paid Leave Benefits and Poverty Thresholds in the OECD

Abstract

Using a new comparative database of paid family and medical leave policies in 34 OECD countries, the article analyzes whether payments enable households of average and minimum wage workers to avoid poverty at three points during leave. The majority of countries ensure that benefits for average wage earners are above the poverty threshold during week one of paid parental leave, as well as of paid leave for personal illness and for family member’s health needs. However, in nearly all OECD countries benefits received during paid leave by minimum wage workers are below the poverty threshold for all types of paid leave in week one. This pattern is also seen at different time points.

Keywords:

• parental leave
• family leave
• medical leave
• sick leave
• benefits
• poverty
• comparative analysis
• descriptive analysis
• OECD

Supplemental data

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2019.1629066.

Notes

1. While preliminary OECD purchasing power parity estimates are available for later years, the most recent final estimates are for 2014.

2. In some cases, paid leave is available for a few days per week. For example, fathers receive full wages for two days of paternal leave in Greece and Netherland. Without this assumption, fathers can appear to be below the poverty line, even with full wages.

3. In 2017, the waiting period was reduced to one week.

4. Because Mexico provides only 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and five days of paid paternity leave, the number of countries with a minimum wage lower than the poverty threshold decreases from three to two in Table 2.

5. Note that employees in Australia can accrue paid sick leave from year to year. An employee who has worked for the same employer for more than a year, and has not taken their full allotment of paid sick leave, would be entitled to more than two weeks of paid leave.

6. No information is available on whether maternity benefits are taxable in Mexico.

7. Average tax data for a single-earner married couple with one child is not available for OECD countries.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bijetri Bose

Bijetri Bose is a Senior Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center specializing in examining the impact of laws and policies on socio-economic outcomes.

Amy Raub

Amy Raub is the Principal Research Analyst of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center and is responsible for the translation of WORLD’s comparative policy research on all 193 UN countries to findings for policymakers, citizens, civil society, and researchers.

Alison Earle

Alison Earle is a Senior Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center. Her research examines how labor and social policies affect gender, economic, and health disparities, with a focus on the role of paid family and medical leave policies.

Jody Heymann

Jody Heymann is the is Founding Director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center, and Distinguished Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Geffen School of Medicine.