Employer-Provided Paid Family Leave and Inequalities in Material Hardship after Childbirth

Background

Paid family leave (PFL) policies can buffer the effects of childbirth-related material hardship for families. However, in the absence of a federal PFL policy, many mothers in the US lack access to paid leave. Given the stratification of employment, ethnic and racial minority groups are particularly likely to lack access to PFL. Guided by the family stress model of economic hardship (FSM; Conger & Elder, 1994), we used Oregon Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data (Oregon Health Authority, 2023) to answer the following questions: (a) What are the characteristics of mothers who access employer-provided paid leave in Oregon? (b) What is the association between employer-provided paid leave and material hardship two years after birth after controlling for other household characteristics? and (c) Does the association between employer-provided paid leave and material hardship two years after birth differ by Hispanic/Latino ethnicity?

Methods

Oregon PRAMS data was collected three months after childbirth during 2014 and 2015 (wave 0), and two years after childbirth through 2016 and 2017 (wave 1). For this study, we analyzed a sample of mothers who were working during pregnancy and were offered parental leave by their employers (N=465). Material hardship was measured through four indicators: (a) food insecurity, (b) food assistance, (c) financial assistance, and (d) participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). A material hardship score (0-4) was created for each observation by summing values of 1 assigned to each of the four indicators. Bivariate analyses were applied to describe the household and demographic characteristics of mothers. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine paid leave take-up and the association between employer-provided paid leave and material hardship. Models were estimated separately to compare how these relationships differed by Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.

Results

Results suggested a significant likelihood of accessing employer-provided paid leave in Oregon for mothers between the ages of 25 and 34 (OR=6.42, SE=5.24, p<.05) and those with yearly household incomes above $50,001 (OR=8.15, SE=4.32, p<.01). Additionally, findings indicated that paid leave reduced the likelihood of material hardship (OR=.40, SE=.12, p<.01) but not the amount of material hardship. This relationship between paid leave and material hardship held statistical significance for non-Hispanic mothers (OR=.33, SE=.11, p<.01) but not for Hispanics.

Conclusions and Implications

Higher income mothers were more likely to access leave supporting prior work showing unequal paid leave coverage when provided by employers. Further, we provide evidence of the benefits of paid parental leave as it was negatively associated with material hardship. These findings suggest that employer-provided paid leave may further inequalities by benefitting higher income and predominantly White mothers. Universal paid leave policies- at the state or federal levels – have the potential to reduce access and outcome disparities, particularly for Hispanics and other minoritized groups. Future research will incorporate PRAMS data after 2023, when Oregon implemented its state paid leave policy (Paid Leave Oregon, 2023). Cross-state research is needed to examine differences in the impacts of employer-provided versus state-provided paid leave.