US Still Lacking Family Leave

The US remains one out of 7 countries which does not have paid family leave.

Transcript

00:00 (gentle music)

00:02 Paid family leave has been removed

00:08 from President Biden's infrastructure

00:09 and social services bill.

00:11 While about 180 nations guarantee workers

00:14 paid parental leave,

00:15 the US remains one of just seven countries that doesn't.

00:19 In Japan and Norway, for example,

00:21 new parents are entitled to more than 52 weeks

00:24 of compensated time off.

00:26 Research finds numerous benefits from paid leave policies,

00:29 including less risk that sick workers show up to their jobs

00:33 while contagious and better health outcomes

00:35 for mothers and their babies.

00:37 Employment experts say with the labor shortage,

00:39 many businesses will likely offer more paid time off

00:43 as a recruitment and retention tool.

00:45 President Biden's social spending plan

00:47 initially called for 12 weeks of paid family leave.

00:51 That was whittled down to four weeks

00:53 before being removed from the bill

00:55 because of opposition from the members of Biden's own party.

00:58 (upbeat music)