Getting Time Off: Access to Leave among Working Parents

Analysis of the 2002 National Survey of America's Families indicates that older workers and those with incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty line are more likely to have paid leave than younger workers and low-income workers. More than half of poor workers, working welfare recipients, and workers who recently left welfare do not receive paid leave. Most working parents have access to maternity or paternity leave regardless of their work hours, job tenure, or firm size. The relatively even distribution of access to maternity and paternity leave, compared with the uneven access to paid leave, could be an effect of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. The author concludes that parents who are likely to need leave--those with young children and working welfare recipients--are less likely to have it. [View the corresponding press release ]