Paid leave—including parental leave for new parents, medical leave to care for one’s own serious illness, and caregiving leave to provide care for loved ones—is a critical element of family economic security. Women’s labor force participation in the United States has played a key role in economic growth, yet it has also left millions of families to navigate the conflict between their care and labor market responsibilities, a problem that will only grow worse as the U.S. population ages. Six states plus Washington, DC have enacted paid leave laws, additional states and localities are considering paid leave legislation, and multiple policy proposals exist at the federal level as well. Equitable Growth is accelerating the growth of the knowledge base that informs policymaking at the local, state, and federal level to ensure that solutions to family caregiving challenges work for families, employers, and the economy as a whole.
Featured work
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Reduced job turnover in small U.S. firms is an overlooked benefit of paid sick leave
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Factsheet: What does the research say about the economics of paid leave?
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Paid sick time and paid family and medical leave support workers in different ways and are both good for the broader U.S. economy
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Explore Content in Paid Leave168
Request for Proposals: Promoting competition and supporting workers in an era of AI innovation
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Request for proposals: Research grants for early career scholars
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A researcher’s guide to identifying policy-relevant research questions for the federal government
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Request for Proposals: How effective was the fiscal response to the COVID-19 recession for workers?
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Request for proposals: Research grants for early career scholars
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Paid sick leave means dads can spend more time caring for loved ones and less time worrying about missing work
June 15, 2023
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Paid leave and the pandemic: New evidence from Families First and lessons for federal policymakers
March 20, 2023 2:00PM - 3:00PM
Access to paid family leave improves U.S. women’s labor market outcomes following a spouse’s health shock
March 6, 2023
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The Impact of Paid Family Leave on Families with Health Shocks
March 6, 2023
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Executive actions to strengthen U.S. income support programs and support research about them
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What is social infrastructure, and how does it support economic growth in the United States?
January 26, 2023
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