12 Key Facts About Paid Leave
-
The U.S. Is a Global Outlier on Paid Leave: The United States is the only developed country, and one of seven countries in the world, that does not guarantee paid parental leave at the national level (World Policy Analysis Center, 2025).
-
The U.S. is the Only OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Country Without a National Paid Leave Policy: On average, OECD countries offer mothers nearly 19 weeks of paid maternity leave, with most countries providing at least 14 weeks, except for the United States, which is the only OECD country without a national paid leave policy (OECD Family Database, 2023).
-
A Crisis for Mothers, Babies, and Families: One in four new moms return to work within two weeks of giving birth, impacting maternal and infant health, child development, and family well-being (Thousand Days, n.d.).
-
Paid Leave Improves Maternal and Infant Physical & Mental Health: Research shows that paid maternity leave reduces postpartum depression, mother and infant rehospitalizations, and infant mortality, while increasing child development, breastfeeding duration, and vaccination rates (Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 2020).
-
Paid Leave Saves Infant Lives: A study on the first U.S. paid family leave program found that California’s six-week policy reduced infant mortality by 0.135, saving approximately 339 infant lives from 2004 to 2008. If applied nationally with a 12-week policy, the infant mortality rate could decrease by 0.27, potentially saving around 972 additional infants per year based on 2020 birth rates (Chen, 2021).
-
Paid Leave Strengthens Father and Child Relationship: Parental leave is positively linked to children's perceptions of their fathers' involvement, as well as increased father-child closeness and communication (Petts, Knoester & Waldfogel, 2020).
-
The Majority of U.S. Workers Lack Access to Paid Leave: Only 27% of U.S. workers have access to paid family leave through their employers, with just 6% of the lowest-wage earners covered. A national paid family and medical leave policy could extend benefits to 97% of workers and reduce poverty by 16% for families receiving paid leave (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023).
-
Nearly Half of U.S. Workers Do Not Qualify for FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) Leave: Approximately 44% of U.S. workers are ineligible for FMLA, often due to employment at small businesses or not meeting tenure or work-hour requirements. While FMLA provides job protection, it lacks financial support, making it challenging for many workers to fully utilize the benefit (U.S. Department of Labor, 2020).
-
Paid Leave Benefits Businesses: Increasing paid maternity leave at Google from 12 to 18 weeks in 2007 reduced the rate of new mothers leaving the company by 50%. Increasing paid maternity leave allowed mothers to bond with their babies and return to work confident, while benefiting Google by reducing turnover and retaining valuable expertise (Wojcicki, 2014).
-
Paid Leave is Popular Across Political Parties: 84% of Americans (including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents) support a national paid family leave policy (National Partnership for Women & Families, 2018).
- Paid Leave Supports Breastfeeding: The absence of paid maternity leave significantly impacts rates of breastfeeding. A study showed that among infants born in 2019, 83.2% were initially breastfed, with 78.6% still receiving breast milk at 1 month, 55.8% at 6 months, and 24.9% exclusively breastfed at 6 months (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2023).
-
The Current Framework in America Fails to Support Families: A national policy is essential to ensure all families, particularly the most vulnerable, have access to paid leave, while many employers would need a national or state framework to make providing paid leave financially feasible (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2023).
Want to learn more?
Explore additional research, studies, and policy briefs on paid leave here.