The overall well being of American families has been greatly affected by demographic and economic changes in the last few decades. Perhaps the most dramatic change is the role of the primary care giver.

• Since 1950, women's participation in the workforce has more than doubled. Today, mothers represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. labor market. As more married couples rely on both of their earnings to make ends meet, parents increasingly share the roles of breadwinner and care giver. Additionally, a growing number of single parents are sole providers for their families.
• The result of these changes is not simply that record numbers of care givers are in the workforce, but that the vast majority of workers are also care givers. Yet, public policies have not caught up; they continue to reflect the reality of a different era.
• In an effort to meet the needs of American workers, President Clinton signed the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) into law in 1993. Under FMLA, workers in companies with 50 or more employees are guaranteed up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for new babies and sick family members or to recover from their own serious illness.
• Though the FMLA has helped millions of workers, it doesn't go far enough. Nearly half of U.S. workers are excluded because their companies have fewer than 50 employees. And most working families, particularly low-income and single-parent households, can't afford unpaid leave even if they know their jobs are protected during their absence.
• All New Hampshire workers -- not just those in large companies who can afford to take unpaid leave -- deserve the opportunity to address major personal or family events: births or adoptions of children, serous illnesses of family members, and temporary disability. No worker should be forced to choose between the health and well being of her or his family and their economic security.
• At some point, most of us will need time off to deal with a serious personal or family medical emergency. According to a survey conducted by the Center for Policy Alternatives, 40 percent of workers -- more than 50 million Americans -- expect to need family leave within the next five years.
• Such leave has far-reaching implications across the life span. Medical research shows the importance to cognitive and emotional development of allowing infants to stay home with a primary care giver for the first year of life. So too, supportive care of an elderly or disabled family member by a relative or friend can greatly extend the time before costly institutional care is needed.
• Stable, healthy families are fundamental to a stable, healthy economy. Indeed, the health and well being of employees is what keeps companies strong and competitive. In a bipartisan survey of paid family leave conducted by the National Commission on Family Leave, the overwhelming majority of businesses reported no noticeable negative effects on productivity, profitability, or growth. Moreover, the survey findings suggest that access to paid family and medical leave makes for a more-efficient economy by increasing employee morale while reducing job turnover and employee replacement costs.
• In contrast, the failure to provide family and medical leave results in significant costs. Based on data from a national survey conducted by MetLife, the aggregate cost of care giving in lost productivity to U.S. businesses is more than $11 billion per year. A 1996 Department of Labor study showed that care givers who quit their jobs lost an average annual income of $20,400 and forfeited employment seniority, job advancement, and Social Security and pension contributions. Low-income workers, who are much less likely to have any paid leave, are much more likely to be forced onto public assistance during a serious personal or family medical emergency.
• The cost of establishing a fund for family leave benefits can be very modest. A study by the New Hampshire Insurance Department shows that, with the participation of all workers currently covered under the state's unemployment insurance, a family leave benefits fund would require a contribution of only $1 to $2 per week for the average worker. In return, employees could receive 50 to 57 percent of weekly wages for up to 12 weeks. If contribution was shared by employers and employees, the cost for the benefit would be truly nominal.
• Internationally, 130 of 160 countries have some form of leave policy for working families; only Ethiopia, Australia, and the United States have unpaid leave policies. Yet, American public support for paid family and medical leave is strong and growing. Twenty-four states, including New Hampshire, introduced family leave benefits legislation in 2001. At the federal level, a Congressional coalition filed the "Right Start Act," which would provide $400 million in federal money for paid family leave benefits demonstration projects. These legislative initiatives reflect the overwhelming majority of workers who, regardless of status or gender, support some form of paid leave to attend to medical and family responsibilities.

Fast Facts

• Nationally, 64 percent of care givers work full- or part-time. Forty-one percent care for children under 18 as well as for elderly relatives or friends.
• In NH, 74.7 percent of women with children under the age of 18 participate in the workforce
• More than 41 percent of private sector employees are not covered or eligible for FMLA leave.
• More than three-quarters of FMLA-covered workers who needed leave but didn't take it said it was because they could not afford to lose wages.
• Paid family leave for the 12 weeks following birth or adoption of a child increases the ability of parents to develop healthy bonds with their children.
• Four in five adults, and 88 percent of parents with children age 6 or younger, support paid parental leave that allows working parents of very young babies to stay home from work to care for their children.
• Eighty-four percent of employers report that the benefits of providing leave offset or outweigh the costs.

Family Facts

This data, collected by Mothers & More in July 2001 from government agencies and policy institutes, reveal the tremendous amount of work both mothers and fathers are doing in the workplace and at home. It also shows how detrimental any obstacles are to wage earning or increased care giving responsibilities.

Labor Statistics

• Average number of hours worked by employees working over 20 hours a week in 1977= 43.6 hours a week
• Average number of hours worked by employees working over 20 hours a week in 1997= 47.1 hours a week
• Average weekly hours worked by men with children under 18 in their household, 50.9
• Average weekly hours worked by women with children under 18 in their household, 41.4

Family Work and Care giving

• Hours a week devoted to child care, housework, or shopping by mothers in dual earner couples: 25
• Hours a week devoted to child care, housework, or shopping by fathers in dual earner couples: 14.5

Economics

• Increase in cost of child care since 1986: 20%
• Percentage of income the poorest families spend on child care: 25%
• Percentage of income that moderate-income families spend on child care: 13%

Benefits

• Percentage of US employees in the private labor force both covered and eligible for unpaid parental leave through the US FMLA of 1993: 46%
• Number of workers not protected by FMLA: 2 out of every 5
  Percentage of covered workers who reported needing leave in 2000 but did not take time off from work because they could not afford unpaid leave: 78%
• Percentage of full-time employees in private establishments with access to paid parental leave 2%
• Number of part time employees in private establishments with access to paid parental leave: 0

Business and FMLA

Analysis of the 2000 US Department of Labor Report, by Nicole Casta with the National Partnership for Women and Families, shows that the anticipated negative effects of FMLA on businesses contradict the positive realities of providing this benefit.

• Effects of Complying with the FMLA on business productivity 51% of non-covered establishments anticipated a negative effect. Only 16% of covered establishments experienced a negative effect.
• Effects of complying with the FMLA on business profitability 51% of non-covered establishments anticipated a negative effect Only 10% of covered establishments experienced a negative effect.
• Effects of complying with the FMLA on employee productivity 40% on non-covered establishments anticipate a negative effect. Only 17% of covered establishments experience a negative effect.
• Effects of complying with the FMLA on employee morale 24% of non-covered establishments anticipate a negative effect. Only 11% of covered establishments experience a negative effect.
• Effects of Complying with the FMLA on administrative costs 71% of non-covered establishments expect their administrative costs to increase. 89% of covered establishments experience either no to only small change in administrative costs.

Sources

Center for Policy Alternatives, VALUING FAMILIES: Providing Family Leave Benefits, Washington, DC, October 2000.

Commission on Family and Medical Leave, A Workable Balance: Report to Congress on Family and Medical Leave, Washington, DC 1996.

Goodbread, Eleanor E. and Debra M. Jodoin, "New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance Historical Data, 1970-1999," N.H. Employment Security, Economic And Labor Market Information Bureau, Sept. 2000

Nicole Casta with the National Partnership for Women and Families, "Highlights of the 2000 US Department of Labor Report."

Institute for Women's Policy Research, The Status of Women in New Hampshire, published by the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women, November 2000.

MetLife Mature Market Group, "The MetLife Study of Employer Costs for Working Care Givers," Westport, CT, June 1997.

National Partnership for Women & Families, FAMILY MATTERS: A National Survey of Women and Men, February 1998.
U.S. Department of Labor, Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: Family and Medical Leave Surveys 2000 Update, conducted by Westat, 2000.

Mothers & More: The Network for Sequencing Women. July 2001.