Washington — Paid sick leave benefits may boost employment, earnings for female workers, and the emotional connection people feel toward their job and the organization, a pair of recent studies cited by the independent, nonprofit Economic Policy Institute show.
In a blog post, the institute notes that access to job-protected paid sick leave allows workers to take time off to seek medical care, recover from illness or injury, or take care of an ailing family member.
According to one of the studies, after the implementation of paid sick leave policies in California, Massachusetts and Oregon, employment among women increased 1.2% over the pre-policy baseline mean. In addition, the average wage and salary increased $2,374.
The largest employment increases were seen among women without college degrees and those with child care responsibilities.
Paid sick leave policies also decreased the proportion of women reporting fair or poor health by 2.4 percentage points and reduced the number of days women reporting their physical and mental health as not good to 0.43 from 0.68 in the past 30 days.
The study, conducted by City University of New York postdoctoral research scholar Meredith Slopen, was published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
Meanwhile, a working paper from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research examined the effects of Seattle’s Paid Sick and Safety Time policy on workers. Findings show an increase of 4.4 hours worked per quarter, which is approximately 18 hours a year.
The paper – co-authored by Slopen and Hilary Wething, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute – also shows a 10% decrease in separations for workers at organizations with more than 50 employees after the PSST policy was implemented. The findings support the potential for reduced turnover, the paper notes.
This year, workers in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska will have access to paid sick leave, joining 15 other states and the District of Columbia.
McCraren Compliance offers many opportunities in safety training to help circumvent accidents. Please take a moment to visit our calendar of classes to see what we can do to help your safety measures from training to consulting.
Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication