Heather Boushey on the Economic Benefits of Paid Leave

Heather Boushey, Executive Director and Chief Economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, issued the following statement in reaction to the Obama Administration’s announcement of several paid leave initiatives:

Research tells us that the U.S. economy could benefit greatly from paid leave policies such as those put forward by the Obama Administration on Thursday. What is often sorely missed in economic policy debates is that paid leave programs not only benefit families but also boost family economic security, worker productivity, the supply of labor, and overall economic growth. Paid leave allows more families to fully contribute to our nation’s economic growth and actually boosts household income by enabling parents, especially mothers, to sustain their careers while caring for their kids and elderly parents.  And while there is much we know about the economic benefits of paid leave, it is encouraging that the Obama administration proposed a plan to launch feasibility studies in several states and cities to help design evidence-based, paid-leave programs of their own.

 

###