Biden’s trimmed paid leave plan lags rest of world

The Democrats’ latest paid family and medical leave proposal would offer workers four weeks annually — significantly lowering the promised benefits and leaving the U.S. lagging much of the world in guaranteed paid time off.

President Joe Biden confirmed on Thursday night’s CNN town hall the latest version of what could be the country’s first nationwide paid leave plan has been whittled down, as Democrats in Congress negotiate a lower price tag on their sweeping tax-andspend plan, which is now expected to be less than $2 trillion over 10 years.

A more generous House version of the paid leave proposal initially offered 12 weeks annually for the birth or adoption of a child, or for workers to care for their own or a family member’s serious illness. The plan was estimated to cost $500 billion over 10 years.

“Four weeks is obviously less than what many people need and what advocates have been pushing for,” said Vicki Shabo, a senior fellow focused on paid leave policy at the New America think tank. Nevertheless, she called it a “historic and transformational start” and said employers, state-run paid leave programs, and potentially Congress could expand on it in the future.

Without a federal program, it’s left up to companies to provide their workers with leave voluntarily in the vast majority of states, which results in mostly high-paid workers getting access to paid time off. Only 23% of workers get paid family leave, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Part of this is not just changing policy, it’s changing culture and norms,” Shabo said.

Four weeks would be a fraction of the paid leave guaranteed to new mothers in much of the developed world. Countries in the European Union provide an average of 22 weeks annually, and those in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development offer 18 weeks on average, according to a 2019 OECD report.

Much of the negative impact of limiting the U.S. program to four weeks instead of 12 will fall on workers of color, who are “often the folks most in need,” said Josephine Kalipeni, executive director at Family Values Work, arguing the program should be expanded in the future.