Abstract
Paid family and medical leave are vital public policies for promoting large-scale improvements in maternal and child health that can boost our national economy. That is why MomsRising—a national on-the-ground and online grassroots organization with over a million members across the United States—is thrilled by the growing momentum for paid family and medical leave. We are not the least bit surprised that support for this critical policy is growing. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without paid family and medical leave, and the fact that these basic workplace protections are missing hurts America’s global competitiveness, businesses, economy, and, most importantly, infant and maternal mortality rates.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appelbaum, E., & Milkman, R. (2011). Center for Economic and Policy Research. Leaves that pay: Employer and worker experiences with paid family leave in California. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/paid-family-leave-1-2011.pdf.
Belkin, L. (2010). Child care costs more than college. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/child-care-costs-more-than-college/.
Bushatz, A. (2016). Military.com. P entagon sets maternity leave at 12 weeks for all services. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/01/28/maternity-leave-slashed-for-sailors-marines.html.
Caring for Infants and Toddlers. (2001). The Future of children, 11(1). Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/11_01_FullJournal.pdf.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Breastfeeding report card. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2014breastfeedingreportcard.pdf.
Democratic National Convention. 2016 Democratic party platform. (2016). Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://http://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf.
Fortune. (2015). Zillman, C. (2015). Who makes less than $15 per hour? An explainer in 3 charts. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/who-makes-15-per-hour/.
Fuller, T. (2016). The New York Times. San Francisco approves fully paid parental leave. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/us/san-francisco-approves-fully-paid-parental-leave.html?_r=0.
H.R.1439–114th Congress (2015–2016): Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1439andS.786–114thCongress (2015–2016): Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. (2015). Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/786.
Houser, L., & Vartanian, T. P. (2012). Pay Matters: The positive economic impacts of paid family leave for families, businesses and the public. Rutgers Center for women and work. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.smlr.rutgers.edu/paymatters-cwwreport-january2012.
Kube, C., & Miklaszewski, J. (2016). NBC News. Military to announce changes to maternity leave policy. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/military-announce-changes-maternity-leave-policy-n506006.
Laughlin, L. (2011). U.S. Census Bureau. Maternity leave and employment patterns of first-time mothers: 1961–2008. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p70-128.pdf.
Lerner, S. (2015). In These Times. The real war on families: Why the U.S. needs paid leave now. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://inthesetimes.com/article/18151/the-real-war-on-families.
McGee, S. (2016). The Guardian. Growing momentum to expand paid leave is fantastic news for Americans. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2016/mar/13/paid-leave-benefits-vermont-minnesota-congress-obama.
National Partnership for Women and Families. (2016). Expecting better: A state-by-state analysis of laws that help expecting and new parents. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.nationalpartnership.org/research-library/work-family/expecting-better-2016.pdf.
Nepomnyaschy, L., & Waldfogel, J. (2007). Paternity leave and fathers’ involvement with their young children. Community, Work & Family, 10(4), 427–453.
Rose, J. (2016). NPR. Paid Family Leave Advocates Celebrate A Big Week, But The Battle’s Not Over. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/2016/04/10/473633537/paid-family-leave-advocates-celebrate-a-big-week-but-the-battles-not-over.
Rossin, M. (2011). The effects of maternity leave on children’s birth and infant health outcomes in the United States. Journal of Health Economics, 30(2), 221–239. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.01.005.
Ruhm, C. (1998). Parental leave and child health. National bureau of economic research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w6554.
Shierholz, H. (2015). U.S. Department of Labor Blog. Lack of paid leave compounds challenges for low-wage workers. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://blog.dol.gov/2015/06/08/lack-of-paid-leave-compounds-challenges-for-low-wage-workers/.
Tanaka, S. (2005). Parental leave and child health across OECD countries. Economic Journal, 115 (501).
The Guardian. (2015). Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to take two months paternity leave when child born. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/21/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-to-take-two-months-paternity-leave-when-child-born.
The White House. (2015). Fact sheet: White House unveils new steps to strengthen working families across America. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/14/fact-sheetwhite-house-unveils-new-steps-strengthen-working-families-acr.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers. (2014). The economics of paid and unpaid leave. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/leave_report_final.pdf.
U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth. (2016). Military parental leave modernization act. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://duckworth.house.gov/images/pdf/16.03.18.Military.Parental.Leave.Modernization.Act.pdf
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). The Surgeon General’s call to action to support breastfeeding. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK52682/.
United States Department of Labor. (2016). Labor Department announces $1M to study paid-leave programs. Retrieved August 16, 2016, from https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/wb/wb20160505.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rowe-Finkbeiner, K., Martin, R., Abrams, B. et al. Why Paid Family and Medical Leave Matters for the Future of America’s Families, Businesses and Economy. Matern Child Health J 20 (Suppl 1), 8–12 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2186-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2186-7