September 2, 2019 - In 2017-18, 66 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave at their jobs, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. This was an increase from
2011, when 60 percent of workers had access to paid leave.These findings are from a supplementary set of questions—the 2017-18 Leave and Job Flexibilities Module—that was asked as part of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), and sponsored by the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. The data on leave were collected directly from wage and salary workers, excluding the self-employed. Workers sometimes do not know whether they can use leave until they have a need to do so. The measures of leave apply only to a person’s sole or main job. For individuals with more than one job, this is the job in which they usually work the most hours. For more information about the ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, see the Technical Note.
Comparisons in this news release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining differences in leave access, including differences in the distribution of workers by their full- or part-time work status.
Access to paid or unpaid leave in 2017-18:
• On average, 66 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave at their jobs. Seventy-eight percent of wage and salary workers had access to unpaid leave, and an additional 9 percent were unsure whether they had access to unpaid leave. Ninety-three percent of workers had access to either paid or unpaid leave. (See table 2.)
• The percentage of wage and salary workers with access to paid leave increased from 60 percent in 2011 to 66 percent in 2017-18. The gains in access to paid leave were widespread across demographic and other characteristics. (See table 1.)
• The percentage of women with access to paid leave increased from 58 percent in 2011 to 65 percent in 2017-18. The percentage of men with access to paid leave increased from 62 percent to 67 percent over the same time period. (See table 1.)
• The wage and salary workers most likely to have access to paid leave were in management, business, and financial operations occupations (82 percent); installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (79 percent); and professional and related occupations (76 percent). Workers least likely to have access to paid leave were in construction and extraction occupations (36 percent) and service occupations (43 percent). (See table 2.)
• Seventy-nine percent of public-sector workers had access to paid leave, compared with 63 percent of private-sector workers. (See table 2.)
• Among single jobholders, full-time workers were about three times more likely than parttime workers to have access to paid leave—77 percent, compared with 23 percent. (See table 2.)
• Among full-time wage and salary workers with only one job, higher earners had greater access to paid leave. Eighty-six percent of workers in the top 25 percent of earners had access to paid leave, compared with 57 percent of workers who were among the lowest 25 percent of earners. (See table 2.)
• Vacation (95 percent) and own illness or medical care (94 percent) were the most common reasons for which workers could use paid leave. The most common reasons for which workers could use unpaid leave were for own illness or medical care (93 percent) and illness or medical care of a family member (86 percent). (See table 3.)
• Wage and salary workers who could work at home as part of their job were more likely to have access to paid leave (81 percent) than were workers who could not work at home (60 percent). (See table 2.)
Use of paid or unpaid leave in 2017-18:
• During an average week, 21 percent of wage and salary workers took leave, either paid or unpaid, from their job. These workers took an average of 13.7 hours of leave. (See table 4.)
• In an average week, 6 percent of wage and salary workers took leave for vacation, 5 percent took leave because they were ill or needed medical care, and 4 percent took leave to run errands or for personal reasons. (See table 6.)
• Women were more likely than men to take leave from their jobs during an average week (23 percent, compared with 19 percent). Of those who took leave during an average week, women were more likely than men to take leave because a family member was ill or needed medical care (10 percent, compared with 6 percent). (See table 4.)
• Of those wage and salary workers who took leave from their jobs during an average week, about two-thirds used paid leave. (See table 5.)
• Among workers who took leave during an average week, parents living with children under age 18 were more likely to take leave because a family member was ill or needed medical care than were workers who were not parents living with children (13 percent, compared with 5 percent). Those who were not parents were more likely to take leave for their own illness or medical care (24 percent) than were workers who were parents of household children (18 percent). (See table 4.)
Non-use of leave in 2017-18:
• Nine percent of wage and salary workers needed to take leave during an average month, but for various reasons did not take leave. About one-third of these workers needed to take leave for their own illness or medical care, and about one-third needed to take leave for errands or personal reasons. (See table 7.)
• During an average month, women were more likely than men to experience times when they needed to take leave but did not (10 percent, compared with 7 percent). Of those women who needed to take leave but did not, the most common reason for needing leave was for their own illness or medical care (42 percent). By comparison, men most often needed leave for errands or personal reasons (40 percent). (See table 7.)
• Of those workers who needed to take leave during an average month but did not, 23 percent did not take leave because they had too much work, 21 percent did not take leave because they feared negative employment consequences or because their leave request was denied, and 15 percent did not take leave because they could not afford the loss in income. (See table 8.)
Source: BLS
