Paid Sick Leave As a Predictor of Government Sponsored Welfare Benefits

 

Background and Purpose: Paid sick leave (PSL) is an important social policy issue that can be a key element to the healthy development of all youth. It’s an important employee benefit that allows parents to stay at home with sick children or to get them to doctor’s appointments in a timely manner. Our past research on paid sick leave received significant national media attention and found those with PSL are more likely to forgo needed care for themselves and their family members.  Paid sick leave can also support families financially because for many people a day off work when a child is ill is a day’s wages lost making them vulnerable financially. Given the current prominence of this conversation, it is essential that policy makers consider whether there could be a savings in our welfare programs if more low-income employees have access to this important benefit.

Extreme disparities currently exist in PSL access.   For example, PSL is less common among Hispanic workers, those who are younger, less educated, low income, those in fair or poor health, and the uninsured.  Representing some of the most vulnerable, only three out of ten low income workers with a child in fair or poor health have PSL benefits.  Little empirical scientific research exists that describes and evaluates the impact of PSL on welfare usage. This research hypothesizes that employees without paid sick leave will have increased odds of reporting usage of welfare benefits including SSI, TANF, other welfare programs such as child care assistance, Food Stamps and WIC.

Methods: Using 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data (N=19,735), this research aims to evaluate the odds of five social welfare, in relation to PSL. Data is collected via in-person or telephone interview with an adult household member by trained US Census Bureau employees. The 2014 NHIS cross-section uses multistage area probability sampling to derive a representative sample of the civilian, non-institutionalized population residing in the US.  African-American, Hispanic, and Asian persons are oversampled. Findings: After controlling for relevant demographic, work, income, and medical/health care variables, results of the logistic models indicate among working adults age 18-64, those without paid sick leave are 1.41 times more likely to receive income from a state or county welfare program, 1.36 times more like to receive other welfare assistance (transportation and child care supports), 133 times more likely to received sponsored rental assistance, and 1.34 times more likely to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.  Conclusions: Mandating paid sick leave benefits may reduce usage of social welfare assistance since families with sick leave do not have to lose wages when work is missed due to health and caregiver responsibilities.

Given the limited body of existing empirical data that exists regarding PSL, this research provides compelling evidence to support PSL as a valuable social welfare health policy.