Profiling the US Sick Leave Landscape

Philip Susser () and Nicolas Ziebarth ()
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Philip Susser: Cornell University

No 9709, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper profiles the sick leave landscape in the US – the only industrialized country without universal access to paid sick leave or other forms of paid leave. We exploit the 2011 Leave Supplement of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a representative and comprehensive database on sick leave in the US. The two binary outcome variables measure (i) access to paid sick leave and (ii) suppressed sick leave ("presenteeism"). Thirty-five percent of US full-time employees lack access to paid sick leave. Low-income employees, service sector employees, and those in poor health have the lowest coverage rates. We estimate that, each week, up to three million US employees suppress their need for sick leave and engage in presenteeism behavior. These are primarily women with children and low-wage sector jobs.

Keywords: medical leave; presenteeism; low-income employees; unpaid leave; gender inequality; US; paid leave; sick leave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I13 I18 J22 J28 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2016-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

Published - short version published in: Health Services Research , 2016, 51 (6), 2305-2317

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