A third of American workers now have access to some form of government-issued paid leave — the biggest share ever. 

The United States is one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t have a federal paid leave policy offering workers paid time off after the birth of a child or to seek medical care, for example, and access to unpaid leave is only about . In that dearth of federal action, states have moved ahead to pass since 2002, which now cover a third of the population. Ten of those were passed in the past decade, as support for paid leave ; three go into effect this year.

Some states’ paid family and medical leave programs expand beyond time off to care for a new baby or to get medical treatment. Last year, Colorado expanded its paid leave program to include an for parents of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. In Oregon, also qualify for paid leave. Connecticut offers paid leave if you’re serving as an .

According to research from the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit advocacy group, the 14 laws now cover 32 percent of private-sector workers, an estimated 46 million people. Of those covered, a third are women, a third are men and another third are parents. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have especially benefited — 55 percent have paid leave through their state programs, as do 41 percent of Latinx workers due to a concentration of these communities in states that have enacted programs. 

Paid leave laws are in 13 blue states and the District of Columbia: California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware and Minnesota.

Though other workers may receive paid leave from their employers, workers of color — and especially women of color — are less likely to be in jobs that offer any paid leave. That’s one of the reasons advocates have pointed to a state or federal system as an equalizer that could improve access. 

“All workers will at some point need paid leave, whether for their own health or to care for loved ones. But when access is not guaranteed, the workers least likely to have paid leave also tend to be those who are likely to face greater health and caregiving challenges and have fewer financial resources to fall back on,” the National Partnership for Women & Families noted in its report. 

Low-wage workers, , have to paid family and medical leave from their employers than do high-wage workers.

“This creates a double bind for low-wage workers who often can’t take off unpaid time because they lack savings or might lose their job if they do. This inequity especially impacts women who are more likely to be low-wage workers and at the same time do two-thirds of unpaid caregiving,” said Katherine Gallagher Robbins, a senior fellow at the National Partnership for Women & Families and one of the authors of the report. 

Large paid leave campaigns in six more states — Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia — could, if passed, bring the share of American workers covered to 44 percent, the national partnership estimated.

The most imminent of those is a proposal in Virginia. Last month, lawmakers in the Virginia House and Senate that are likely to be signed by Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who called for passing a state program in her State of the Commonwealth speech this year. 

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers are hoping to reignite momentum behind a paid leave bill that has support. Lawmakers in and are also considering a bill this session. And both Nevada and New Mexico have come close: In Nevada, a paid leave bill passed in the legislature last year was by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and in New Mexico, a paid leave bill passed the House last year .

At the federal level, part of the momentum of the past decade has come from men — — pushing for more paid leave access. During the Biden administration, the United States got to passing a federal paid leave policy before it was removed from a spending bill. Now during the Trump administration, lawmakers made permanent a who voluntarily offer paid leave to certain employees. 

So while the issue does have bipartisan support, Republicans and Democrats remain at odds about what form a federal paid leave policy should take. At a , U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Pennsylvania Republican who has a newborn, said his wife is able to care for their daughter because of her company’s paid leave policy. 

“We know that this practice makes an important difference for many in our community. Unfortunately, paid family leave has been out of reach for millions of Americans who are hoping to grow their families,” he said. 

But while state bills are “encouraging,” Mackenzie said it is also “difficult for state administrators and private-sector benefits managers to navigate the patchwork of paid leave policies across different states. While one program may work in Maryland, Alabama likely has its own workforce challenges to manage. One state’s approach should not be forced upon another’s workforce, or vice versa.” 

For paid leave, he said, “there is no silver bullet solution.” 

Dawn Huckelbridge, the director of Paid Leave for All, a national advocacy organization pushing for federal paid family and medical leave, said she is “heartened to see there is bipartisan interest and dialogue” on the subject. 

But, she added, “there are states that will likely never pass paid leave, so as long as there isn’t a federal guarantee, this is going to create a system and have and have nots that will just continue to grow inequities.”

was originally reported by Chabeli Carrazana of . .

The revealed that of the 16 states that require districts to offer paid parental leave, only two — Arkansas and Delaware — give teachers their full wages up to 12 weeks. Six other states offer partial pay for up to three months.

Access to paid leave decreases postpartum depression and boosts the likelihood that employees will return to their jobs after having a child, according to the study. Multiple national medical organizations a minimum of 12 weeks of paid time off for new parents.

The number of large school districts offering paid parental leave has in the last three years, from 27 to 64. About 40 are located in states that don’t require the benefit. While this shows district-level progress, the lack of state mandates allows schools to refuse to take action, said Heather Peske, NCTQ president.

“What we know is that leaving it up to districts leaves too much to chance, and it leaves too many teachers high and dry,” she said. 

A 2024 by RAND Corp. found that 32% of teachers have access to paid parental leave, compared with 46% of similar working adults. Of those who received the benefit, 46% of teachers thought it was an adequate amount, compared with 78% of other adults.

The new report highlighted Arkansas as a , saying it’s a prime example of why states need to enact paid leave requirements. An optional program created in 2023 allowed the state and districts to evenly split the cost of substitutes who covered for teachers who were absent for up to 12 weeks. But only 10% of districts participated. 

Last year, lawmakers changed it to a mandatory, state-funded benefit that covered the full cost of long-term substitutes. The study said results of the new program are still unknown because it only took effect in August.

Washington state offers teachers the most time off: 12 to 16 weeks that can be extended to 18 in cases where pregnancy or birth complications arise. But the state offers only partial pay.

Maryland has a cap of $1,000 per week during parental leave, while Minnesota’s program covers between 55% and 90% of teachers’ salaries, depending on income level. In 2019, New Jersey increased its for eligible workers — including teachers — from 66% to 85% of their average wage. That change resulted in a 70% hike in program participation.

Seven states and the District of Columbia provide educators with full pay, but for a shorter amount of time, like six or eight weeks.

In , lawmakers debated in 2018 whether paid parental leave was the best use of limited state dollars, according to the study. Following months of advocacy, Delaware eventually created the nation’s first paid parental leave program for teachers, which NCTQ considers to be a model policy. It offered 12 weeks off, funded by an employee payroll contribution of less than 1%, and the state reimbursed districts for the cost of long-term substitutes. About 3% of teachers used the paid leave benefit in 2024.

“If states reimburse districts the cost of long-term substitutes, districts need only maintain normal operating costs by paying teachers’ salaries as usual,” the study said. “This policy ensures that educators receive their full pay during leave, while having minimal impact on the state’s overall budget.”

NCTQ also recommends that states extend paid parental leave to all teachers who become parents, including fathers and educators who foster or adopt children. About one-third of states that provide paid leave offer reduced benefits for non-birthing parents or none at all. 

“Research shows that when both parents have access to paid leave, families grow stronger, children are healthier and women experience greater career outcomes,” Peske said. “Ensuring leave benefits for all parents helps attract and retain talented teachers in the classroom.”

A state Senate panel advanced a bill Monday that would  to businesses with at least 15 workers, a change from the current threshold of 30 employees.

has seen some changes since it passed the Assembly in February. It had initially lowered the worker threshold to five, to widespread criticism from the business community. Business groups remain opposed, saying that encompassing businesses with fewer than 30 employees would deter hiring and potentially force small businesses to close their doors.

“New Jersey small businesses are already shouldering some of the highest operating costs in the country, including labor, insurance, property taxes, and compliance obligations,” said Amirah Hussain of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. “Imposing these mandates introduces a new layer of risk and unpredictability.”

Yarrow Willman-Cole, with consumer advocacy group New Jersey Citizen Action, testified in favor of the bill, saying 1.7 million workers are not covered by the state’s current family leave law.

“We passed paid family leave 17 years ago. It took us 10 years to improve it. It should not take another decade to get this right,” Willman-Cole said. “Our laws should reflect our society’s growing caregiving needs. New Jersey is, in fact, not keeping up.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republicans and Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the panel’s chair, voted against advancing the bill.

New Jersey law requires that businesses provide eligible workers with up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child or to care for a loved one. Workers pay into the fund that pays out benefits, and the benefits are based on a worker’s earnings. Workers’ jobs are protected until their leave ends.

The committee amended the bill Monday to include employees who have worked for a company for six months — current law says 12 months — and for 500 hours, down from 1,000 hours. The bill would take two years to phase in.

Elizabeth Zuckerman of the state chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association said that whatever “small burden” the bill puts on an employer is justified to keep parents from choosing between bonding with their children or keeping their job.

“We are a pro-family country. We should support our families by allowing employers or encouraging employers to give employees time off when they need to care for a child or a family member,” Zuckerman said.

Businesses remain concerned that the bill would put an “unsustainable burden” on small employers, said Frank Jones with Big I New Jersey, which advises independent and locally owned insurance agencies.

Jones said he supports the goal of the bill to give more workers access to family leave, but when businesses with 15 employees lose one person, it’s difficult for the remaining workers to juggle the work. He also said it would drive up liability insurance costs. He stressed that paid benefits and job-protected reinstatement should be separate issues.

“The mandatory reinstatement requirement, regardless of business conditions, removes the flexibility small business employers need to survive,” Jones said. “Agencies may be forced to permanently restructure or hire to maintain client service, only to face liability for not reinstating later, even if decisions were made in good faith.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.

State residents were guaranteed of leave to care for a newborn, a sick relative or to recover from their own illness or disability, and the pay they received was only 55% of their income, even for low-wage workers. It didn’t come with the assurance that they would be able to return to their jobs after leave. Many workers who were eligible didn’t make use of it; in of California employers and workers, one-third of workers said they didn’t apply for paid leave because the benefits were too low and taking it could adversely impact their jobs.

Today, a total of have enacted paid family leave programs, and over time they’ve become more robust. Newer programs have guaranteed additional weeks off and job protection while offering higher wage replacement. Some have created more expansive definitions of family. Meanwhile, older programs like California’s have been expanded to become more generous. 

These changes have allowed more workers to actually take advantage of the benefits they’ve paid into and are owed, according to new data, leading to more equality in who takes leave.

In a published by the National Partnership for Women & Families, Jessica Mason, senior policy analyst for economic justice at the organization, examined programs in Connecticut and Washington State, which were in 2019 and 2017, respectively, and offer 12 weeks of leave with nearly full wage replacement for the lowest-wage workers. They also allow people to take leave for chosen family members as well as more traditional ones. 

Those programs belong to the group that have a “newer, 2.0 model,” she said. She also looked at Rhode Island, which became the third state in the country to enact paid family leave in 2008. The state started by offering four weeks of leave and is now up to six weeks at a flat 60% wage replacement rate, and with a stricter definition of family. That program is “the original 1.0 model of paid leave,” Mason said.

What she found is that, in the two states with more expansive benefits, “there are some real equity benefits,” she said. 

In the first three states to enact paid family leave — California, New Jersey and Rhode Island — the share of parental leave claims filed by men was very low in the first year, ranging from 12% in New Jersey to 32% in Rhode Island. But the states that have more recent policies have seen a very different trend. In Washington, roughly half of parental leave claims were filed by men, and in Connecticut it’s a bit over 45%. That means these programs are “starting off in a more equitable place,” Mason said. 

Thanks to sliding scales for wage replacement, which offer lower-paid workers much more of their typical pay while on leave, women have a smaller gap in how much money they receive while on paid leave compared to men in both Washington and Connecticut. So while women still make less than men in these states, they’re getting more equal benefits, which “helps mitigate the wage gap,” Mason said.

There is also some evidence that higher wage replacement rates in these states are helping lower-paid workers. While workers earning in the very lowest quintile are still underrepresented among people taking medical leave for their own health issues — the most common reason for leave — low- and middle-income workers in Washington, for example, take leaves at higher rates than their share of the labor force. The higher rates could also be due to job protection for taking leave and a lot of outreach efforts to make sure residents know about the newer programs, Mason said. 

Change hasn’t just come to new states creating new programs. The original states that enacted more stringent programs have updated and expanded them, and they’ve also seen promising results. At the start of this year, California increased its wage replacement such that the lowest-paid workers now get of their pay. It, too, is now seeing more equitable outcomes. More state residents overall are taking leave, and the rate surged 17% for people who earn $60,000 or less who can expect 90% of their wages. The gap between how much leave men and women take, meanwhile, has narrowed. 

The overall trend among states establishing leave is to expand and make programs more generous over time. “We have not seen a single program go back and cut benefits,” Mason noted. Meanwhile, other states have been able to learn from the lessons and mistakes of the earlier pioneers, and when new programs are developed, they tend to offer longer periods of leave, higher pay, more inclusive definitions of family and job protection, she said. These data show that these efforts can create real change in who is able to take leave.

It’s a matter of “fairness” to enact these expansions that allow more people to take leave, Mason said. All of these programs are set up as social insurance, with workers and employers paying into them. They should, then, be able to make use of the benefits when they need them.

It’s a lesson that policymakers in Congress could stand to learn, Mason said. While Democrats’ version of paid family leave legislation, the FAMILY Act, has been to have a higher wage replacement rate for lower-wage workers and a more expansive definition of family, the House bipartisan Paid Family Leave Working Group a policy framework last year that seemed like they were trying to “reinvent the wheel,” Mason said, and start from scratch.

“We don’t have to come up with a new policy here,” she said. “We already know what works.”

Undeterred by the rain, a few kids play at an outdoor playground and soccer field, but most are exploring the indoor playroom, which has games, toys, art supplies and a staff that oversees these kids activities. At noon, free lunch will be served to any child who brings their own cup and spoon. Today it’s vegetarian pea soup. The city of Helsinki is footing the bill so kids and families have a reliable place to eat and play. 

Finland, like other Nordic countries, boasts generous benefits for families with children: access to free, high-quality prenatal care; an option to take up to three years of paid parental leave; heavily subsidized child care programs, which can be free for families up to a certain income threshold; and spaces like that provide play areas and free meals for families. This is in sharp contrast to the United States, which lacks a national child care infrastructure and has no federal paid leave policy. America leaves individual families responsible for arranging maternal health care, navigating parental leave benefits and sorting out child care decisions — and most of child care subsidies and meal programs are means tested and subject to political whims.

The collective-minded Finland and the individualistic United States have taken wildly different approaches to supporting families, but both leave a key population of caregivers struggling: stay-at-home parents. As seek solutions to address a declining birth rate, they may need to consider developing more support for parents who choose to stay home and care for their children.

Limited Benefits for Stay-at-Home Parents

Six months after giving birth, Virtanen went back to work as a lab technician. The decision was purely financial. She wanted to stay at home and care for her daughter, but she was the breadwinner, so her husband, Roope Jokinen took a year off from university, where he studies violin, to be their daughter’s primary caregiver. Shortly after returning to work, Virtanen cut back to part time hours so she could spend a day at home with her daughter each week, but the pay cut has been difficult for their family, especially with Jokinen still in school. Their arrangement allowed the couple to wait until their daughter was 18 months old to enroll her in a child care program, but even then, Virtanen said, it felt too soon. “It might have been easier if she was older,” she said. “She may have understood why we were taking her there.”

In Finland, stay-at-home parent benefits are primarily connected to paid family leave, meaning the time a parent can take from work to care for the birth or adoption of a child. Finland provides via Kela, a government agency that administers benefits under national social security programs. Eligible working parents who decide to care for their own children can apply to receive an income-related parental allowance based on their annual earnings. It has a sliding scale based on income and it decreases significantly after the first year. After a child turns 2 years old, this allowance ends but parents who choose to forgo paid work and care for their child at home can receive a fixed monthly child home care allowance until the child turns 3. And at any point from birth through age 3, a parent can opt for their child to attend a child care program and the cost is generously subsidized by the Finnish government. 

But even with the robust ecosystem of family policies in Finland, the economics of caregiving can create stress, especially for parents who want to stay at home to care for their children. For high earners, like Virtanen, the allowance would have been too significant a pay cut, which is why she opted to return to work. And while Jokinen qualified for the minimum allowance because he’s a student, it barely made a dent in the cost of raising a family. 

Many American families face similar pressures. While some American workers are eligible to take unpaid family leave through the (FMLA), and some states and private employers do offer a paid family leave benefit, many parents find themselves calculating the cost of care against their leave benefits and making decisions they may not view as ideal for child care. 

In the U.S., non-working parents who care for their children at home are ineligible for benefits, largely because the handful of child care policies the U.S. has implemented have had an explicit goal of boosting workforce participation. , for example, was a federally supported program that subsidized child care for working mothers during World War II. The tax policies designed to offset the costs of child care, such as the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, are only available to families in which both parents work. And even states like Vermont and New Mexico, which have generous and innovative child care policies, don’t provide benefits for parents who wish to care for their children.

An Evolving Policy, With Steps Toward Supporting Family Preferences for Child Care

In 2022, Finland took a step toward supporting family preferences. The , allowing them to to take up to six months of paid leave. Before that, the policy only applied to mothers. This change has challenged societal norms around gender and work, explained Miina Pakarinen. Pakarinen is currently on maternity leave with her second son, who won’t get his name until a non-religious naming ceremony in August. He goes by one of his many nicknames, including Paavo, which means pope, since he was born the day Pope Leo the XIV was elected. With her older son, who was born in 2021, Pakarinen spent 10 months at home, and had her mother care for him until he started a child care program at age 1. But with Paavo, Pakarinen is planning to return to work at an employment agency when he turns 6 months old, and then her husband will stay home for six months. 

“It’s making our society more equal,” she said of the paid leave split. “Both at home and at work, with who gets to take the time off.” Pakarinen is not interested in being a stay-at-home parent, but acknowledges that creating more choices for families is beneficial, and she’s looking forward to her husband being the caregiver when she returns to work. 

This step has helped Finland better support family choice, but the reality remains that even in a country with generous family policies and a strong child care infrastructure, the economics of child care is fraught. Heavily subsidized, high-quality child care may be a solution that works for most families, but there’s not a one-size-fits-all policy for families. And like the handful of child care policies in the U.S., most of the support requires outsourcing the care provided, with little support for families who opt to do it on their own. 

Addressing declining birth rates — a challenge Finland and the U.S. share — requires building a more robust, supportive child care system that takes into account family preferences for care. Both countries may need to consider developing family policies, tax credits and incentives that extend to parents who opt to stay home to bond and care for their babies and young children.

For Virtanen, staying at home isn’t in the cards for now. But she said she’d reconsider if she has another child, even if it comes with a financial cost. “I want to be the one caring for her,” she said. 

Louisiana lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would provide six weeks of paid parental leave to teachers, but its cost has made some lawmakers wary.

, authored by Sen. Samuel Jenkins, D-Shreveport, comes with a $15 million cost to the state. The proposal was approved without objection Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee, but several members voiced concerns about its fiscal impact. Although the schools will still be responsible for the employee’s leave pay, the state would reimburse the school for the expense of a substitute teacher.

Committee chairman Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, warned Jenkins he should work on the cost before his bill gets to the Senate Finance Committee, which must also approve the legislation before it’s considered on the Senate floor.

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Jenkins amended his bill in the education committee to cut down its cost, but the legislative fiscal staff has yet to update its calculations. Under the amendment, the state would reimburse local school systems for the cost of a substitute teacher to cover the on-leave employee. Before the change, Jenkins’ bill required the state to cover the cost of the teacher’s salary during the parental leave period.

Depending on how the Legislative Fiscal Office accounts for substitutes, the amendments could make the bill $11 million cheaper.

Substitute teachers make between $60 and $100 a day depending on the school system, the substitute’s background and the length of substitution. Teacher salaries in Louisiana average $56,175 a year for 182 days of work.

The daily rate of pay for a teacher for six weeks is just over $9,000. A substitute would cost on average $2,400 for six weeks.

Under Jenkins’ legislation, teachers and support staff will be eligible for paid parental leave, in addition to any sick leave or paid time off they have accrued, as long as they have worked for a public school system for at least 12 months.

The leave can be used for the birth of a child, a pregnancy loss, adopted and foster children. Both parents will be eligible for leave if they are qualified employees.

Parents can take the leave together or separately. Parents also have the option to use the six weeks as they please, meaning it can be used all at once or spread out. However, the six weeks must be used within 12 months of the qualifying event.

Employers cannot require an employee to use sick leave or paid time off before using parental leave. Teachers and support staff will be paid 100% of their salary or base pay.

State money for parental school employee leave will be put into a fund for this specific purpose. Any dollars left in the fund at the end of the fiscal year will be invested, and interest earned from this investment would be credited to the fund.

In 2023, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards established six weeks paid parental leave for most . Three of the four state’s higher education systems have since adopted the same for their employees.