Bridging the Gap: How Emergency Paid Leave Addressed Limited Access and Constraints during the Pandemic

Tanya Byker, Elena Patel and Kristin Smith

National Tax Journal, 2025, vol. 78, issue 3, 549 - 576

Abstract: We study the effect of the emergency paid leave, provisioned by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, on monthly paid absences during the onset of the pandemic. We show that this policy eased the constraints created by the pandemic and addressed the limited availability of paid leave, a persistent shortcoming of the US labor market. Using a triple differences empirical model, we compare high-frequency employee-level reports of paid absences from months before and during the pandemic in 2020, relative to these same months in 2018 and 2019, and leveraging the detailed eligibility criteria of the policy. This approach controls for strong seasonality in leave-taking. Heterogeneity analysis suggests our results are driven by parents who were particularly constrained as the pandemic wore on and childcare options were limited.

Date: 2025
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