Worker Access to Paid Leave Benefits

In the United States, 74 percent of workers have access to paid sick leave through their employers. About the same share has access to paid vacation (75%) and paid holidays (77%). This access varies between the public and private sectors. In private industry, 71 percent of workers have access to paid sick leave and more than three-quarters of workers have access to paid vacation and paid holidays. Among state and local government employees, access to paid sick leave (91%) far outweighs access to paid vacation and holidays (61% and 68%, 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 sick leave benefits is a bit more widespread in this area of the country compared with the national average.

Almost nine out of 10 workers in the Pacific West region have access to paid sick leave. Access to paid holidays and to paid vacation in the Pacific West matches the national average. 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 than the national average to have access to paid sick leave (86%) and very similar to the nation in terms of access to paid vacation and paid holidays.

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. Eighty-five percent of full-time workers have access to paid sick leave, and even more have paid vacation and holidays. Among part-time workers, 40 percent have access to paid sick leave, 38 percent have paid vacation, and 43 percent have paid holidays.

Union-represented workers are more likely to have access to sick leave and slightly more likely to have paid holidays, but union representation doesn’t raise the access to paid vacation. Nine out of 10 union-represented workers had access to sick leave in March 2018, compared with 71 percent of non-union workers. Access to paid holidays reached 81 percent of union workers and 76 percent of non-union workers. The same share had access to paid vacation, at 75 percent in both union and non-union operations.

The workers with the lowest wages also have the least access to paid leave benefits through their employers. Access to paid sick leave has a direct positive relationship with earnings, with each step up in earnings quartile matched by improved access to paid sick leave. In contrast, for paid vacation and paid holidays, this relationship only holds for the shift between the lowest paid and the next quartile, with the highest half of earners having about as much access to paid vacation and paid holidays as the second 25 percent. 

For more information, read the full article written by Economist Jessica Nelson.