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    Time with a new baby

    Time with a new baby: Paid time at home, and a job to come back to.

    Only 27% of private-sector workers had paid family leave from their employer in 2023, and far fewer at small workplaces. Where states paid for it, babies went to the hospital less often.

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    Ryan K. Hertel · heyitskenton

    The problem

    What we're up against.

    • Most workers have no paid leave.

      Only 27% of private-sector workers had paid family leave from their employer in 2023, and federal law doesn't require private employers to offer paid leave of any kind.

    • Small businesses, less leave.

      20% of workers at workplaces with fewer than a hundred employees had it, against 41% at the largest, and 13% of the lowest-paid quarter of workers, against 44% of the highest-paid.

    • Short leaves.

      About 66.2% of mothers going back to their jobs took less than three months off.

    • The one exception.

      America is the only OECD country with no national right to paid leave.

    What works

    Proven, and ready to grow.

    • More time at home.

      California's program doubled the leave new mothers took, from an average of three weeks to six.

    • Fewer babies in the hospital.

      After California's program began, infant hospital admissions fell, most for causes closer care could prevent.

    • Mothers' health.

      Across six states' programs, mothers' depressive symptoms fell by 0.93 percentage points.

    • Healthier, safer babies.

      In wealthy countries, more paid leave has gone with better infant health and lower death rates, and in America, paid family leave cut reports of infant maltreatment by about 14%.

    • Fathers too.

      Fathers of infants in California were 46% more likely to be on leave once the program existed.

    What a family could fund

    Where the money goes furthest.

    • What a paid week costs.

      New Jersey paid new parents an average of $925 a week in 2024, for up to 12 weeks.

    • Help the employer, too.

      Washington gives mid-sized employers $3,000 when they hire a temporary worker to cover someone on leave, a model a family's fund could offer small businesses anywhere.

    • Alongside what exists.

      13 states, counting DC, run paid leave programs, and a federal tax credit covers up to 25% of the paid leave wages an employer pays.

    Honest limits

    What money can't promise.

    • Long leaves can backfire.

      Leaves of under a year help mothers keep working, but much longer ones can hurt their careers.

    • A long-run cost for some.

      Tax records suggest California's program cut first-time mothers' employment and earnings a decade later.

    • Those who need it most use it least.

      The lowest earners and workers at small firms are the least likely to take paid leave.

    • Money can't promise the job.

      Without a law protecting the job, some parents have no job to go back to when the leave ends, and 15% of employees miss out on federal job protection only because their workplace is too small.

    • Some firms do bear costs.

      In Sweden, a longer leave cost firms the equivalent of ten full-time months of wages, on top of replacing the workers. Some birth outcomes even worsened under American state programs.

    Hard questions

    Asked and answered.

    1. You might ask

      Won't this hurt small businesses?

      Ryan

      On average, little: studies of small Danish firms found little harm to firms or coworkers, though firms that can't cover the work with their own staff do lose out, and Rhode Island's employers saw little measurable effect.

    2. You might ask

      Isn't this the government's job?

      Ryan

      In America, federal law doesn't require paid leave, and states differ, so a family's fund would sit beside public programs, not replace them. How far government goes is a choice for voters.

    3. You might ask

      Do fathers take it?

      Ryan

      More each year: men filed 43% of California's new-parent claims twenty years after filing 15% in 2004.

    In the slider

    See what your fortune could do here.

    Time with a new baby

    The slider prices this cause with these numbers:

    • 12 weeks at New Jersey's average weekly benefit for new parents, $925, comes to about $11,100, by our arithmetic.
    • The whole need is every baby born in America, about 3.6 million a year, though some parents already have paid leave.
    • A fund can pay wages, but it can't promise the job will be there, and very long leaves can hurt mothers' careers.
    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    More of the Blueprint

    Keep reading.

    5 more chapters on the way

    Back to Keep 100

    Sources

    Every number in this chapter, and where it came from.

    1. Source 1: Paid Family and Medical Leave in the United States (R44835) (opens in a new tab)

      Congressional Research Service, 30 September 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A neutral report for Congress, with figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    2. Source 2: Did California Paid Family Leave Impact Infant Health? (Pihl and Basso) (opens in a new tab)

      Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2019. Checked 16 October 2026.

    3. Source 3: Workplace Leave and Breastfeeding Duration Among Postpartum Women, 2016-2018 (Kortsmit and others) (opens in a new tab)

      American Journal of Public Health, 22 October 2021. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A CDC survey of mothers at ten sites.

    4. Source 4: PF2.1 Parental leave systems (opens in a new tab)

      OECD Family Database, May 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    5. Source 5: The effects of California's paid family leave program on mothers' leave-taking and subsequent labor market outcomes (Rossin-Slater, Ruhm and Waldfogel) (opens in a new tab)

      Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2013. Checked 16 October 2026.

    6. Source 6: Effects of US state paid family leave policies on perinatal and postpartum health (Wells and others) (opens in a new tab)

      American Journal of Epidemiology, 1 January 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Six states' programs, compared over time.

    7. Source 7: The Impact of Parental and Medical Leave Policies on Socioeconomic and Health Outcomes in OECD Countries: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature (Nandi and others) (opens in a new tab)

      The Milbank Quarterly, 1 September 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

    8. Source 8: More than Snuggles: The Effect of Paid Family Leave on Infant Maltreatment (Bullinger and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Child Maltreatment, 9 February 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.

    9. Source 9: Paid Family Leave, Fathers' Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households (Bartel and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

    10. Source 10: Family Leave Insurance and Temporary Disability Insurance Combined Annual Activity Report 2024 (opens in a new tab)

      New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, December 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.

    11. Source 11: RCW 50A.24.010: Grants for employers with fifty to one hundred fifty employees (opens in a new tab)

      Washington State Legislature. Checked 16 October 2026.

    12. Source 12: Maternity and Family Leave Policy (Rossin-Slater) (opens in a new tab)

      National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2017. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A review of the research.

    13. Source 13: The Long-Run Effects of California's Paid Family Leave Act on Women's Careers and Childbearing (Bailey and others) (opens in a new tab)

      National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2019. Checked 16 October 2026.

    14. Source 14: Trends and Disparities in Leave Use under California's Paid Family Leave Program (Bana and others) (opens in a new tab)

      AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.

    15. Source 15: Employee and Worksite Perspectives of the FMLA: Who Is Eligible? (opens in a new tab)

      US Department of Labor, July 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Prepared by Abt Associates for the Department of Labor.

    16. Source 16: Employer Responses to Family Leave Programs (Ginja, Karimi and Xiao) (opens in a new tab)

      American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, January 2023. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A Swedish reform.

    17. Source 17: Is Parental Leave Costly for Firms and Coworkers? (Brenøe and others) (opens in a new tab)

      National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2020. Checked 16 October 2026.

      Small firms in Denmark.

    18. Source 18: Assessing Rhode Island's Temporary Caregiver Insurance Act: Insights from a Survey of Employers (Bartel and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Cornell University, 2016. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A report for the US Department of Labor.

    19. Source 19: This Father's Day, EDD highlights the benefits dads can receive through California's Paid Family Leave program (opens in a new tab)

      California Employment Development Department, 11 June 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.

    20. Source 20: Births: Provisional Data for 2025 (opens in a new tab)

      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, April 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.