This study explored why competitive firms in the U.S. provide paid parental leave and to what extent.
Using the BLS-Employee Benefit Survey for 2010 to 2018 and extensive firm-level data, the team found that employer-provided paid parental leave has become more prevalent in the last 20 years and often covers new fathers as well as new mothers. The extent of leave offered by U.S. companies varies greatly by firm size and industry, but even highly regarded firms in the U.S. provide less paid parental leave than the median OECD nation.
This work has been supported in part by Grant # 85-18-05 from the Russell Sage Foundation and Grant #1823635 from the National Science Foundation. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and should not be construed as representing the opinions of the funders.
