Who Benefits from Paid Family Leave? Effects of State-Level Paid Family Leave Policy on Unpaid Work

• In Event: 50261 - Family Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: Family Care Policy

Abstract

In the U.S., the access to paid family leave policy is a structural environment that only the individuals who live in certain states can enjoy. Prior studies focused on the people who do take the leave to estimate the effect of the policy. This study expands the scope of paid family leave policy research by investigating the effect of having the paid family leave policy to the broader audience. Using the American Time Use Survey 2011 – 2023, this study incorporates Krieger (2001)’s ecosocial perspective to evaluate the structural effect of state-level paid family leave policy on the hours of unpaid work. The results using the ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis show that individuals who live in states with the paid family policy spend almost one more hour in childcare than their counterparts living in states with no such policy or at the time before the enactment of the policy. Each year since the enactment, the time the residents of the states with the policy spent on childcare increases but not by substantial amount. We found no evidence of the effect of having the paid family leave policy at the state-level on the hours of housework. This pattern indicates that the existence of paid family leave operates as a structural environment to influence the individuals’ time spent on certain types of unpaid work. To further explore the pattern, we aim to apply more rigorous analytical methods and incorporating other structural factors.

Authors

• Jungmin Shin, University at Albany, SUNY

• Kimberly Gan, University at Albany, SUNY