Worker Access to Paid Leave Benefits

In the United States, 68 percent of workers have access to paid sick leave through their employers. A slightly higher share has access to paid vacation (73%) and paid holidays (75%). This access varies between the public and private sectors. In private industry, about two-thirds of workers have access to paid sick leave and just over three-quarters of workers have access to paid vacation and paid holidays. Among state and local government employees, access to paid sick leave (90%) far outweighs access to paid vacation and holidays (59% and 67%, respectively).

These figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey, which includes very little detail at the sub-national level. Oregon is grouped with the Pacific West region, which includes Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Access to paid leave benefits is a bit more widespread in this area of the country compared with the national average. Three-quarters of workers in the Pacific West region have access to paid sick leave and paid holidays, while 70 percent have access to paid vacation. Access to all paid leave benefits is more prevalent than the national average in the regional public sector, while the region’s private-sector workforce is more likely to have access to paid sick leave (73%) and less likely to have access to paid vacation (71%) and paid holidays (75%).

Full-time workers – those working 35 hours per week or more at their primary job – are far more likely to have access to paid leave benefits than part-time workers. Four out of five full-time workers have access to paid sick leave, and even more have paid vacation and holidays. Among part-time workers, just 31 percent have access to paid sick leave, 35 percent have paid vacation, and 39 percent have paid holidays.

The size of the employer also influences the availability of paid leave benefits. This is especially true in the private sector, while public-sector workers have a tighter range based on employer size. In the private sector, access to paid vacation and holidays improves as the employer size increases – workers at large employers are more likely to have access to these paid leaves than workers at smaller employers. In the public sector, there’s little variation in the availability of paid vacation and holidays by size; workers at smaller government establishments are about as likely as workers at the largest government establishments to be able to enjoy these forms of paid leave.

Read the full article "Worker Access to Paid Leave Benefits", written by Employment Economist Jessica Nelson.