Among 41 countries, only U.S. lacks paid parental leave
A secondary-schoolhouse teacher at home on maternity leave with her 3-month-erstwhile girl in Auckland, New Zealand. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

The share of moms who are working either total or function time in the The states has increased over the by half-century from 51% to 72%, and near half of ii-parent families now include two total-time working parents. At the same time, fathers – virtually all of whom are working – are taking on more child intendance responsibilities, as fatherhood has grown to encompass far more than just bringing habitation the bacon.

U.S. ranks last in government-mandated paid leave for new parentsDespite these transformations, the U.S. is the simply country among 41 nations that does not mandate any paid get out for new parents, according to data compiled by the Arrangement for Economic Cooperation and Evolution (OECD) and current equally of April 2018. The smallest amount of paid leave required in whatsoever of the other 40 nations is near 2 months.

In comparison, Estonia offers more than a year and a half of paid get out to new parents – past far the highest benefit provided by any of the countries represented. A number of countries – Bulgaria, Hungary, Nippon, Republic of lithuania, Austria, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway and Slovenia – offering over a year's worth of paid leave likewise.

The OECD statistics classify the total amount of go out available to new parents into 3 categories: ane) maternity exit, available to mothers around the time of a birth or adoption; 2) paternity leave, bachelor to fathers around the fourth dimension of a nascence or adoption; and iii) parental get out, which is typically available after maternity or paternity leave. In some cases, parental leave is specifically allocated for mothers only or for fathers only. In other cases, it is available to either parent.

In 20 of 41 countries, the majority of all paid leave available is allocated for motherhood leave. In fact, in vi countries – Canada, State of israel, Slovakia, Switzerland, Costa Rica and New Zealand – maternity leave accounts for all available paid leave related to the birth or intendance of a child. No exit is available for new fathers.

While paid leave is dominated by get out for mothers, leave earmarked specifically for fathers is now available in 34 of the 41 countries represented in the data. In most cases, the amount of paid get out specifically for fathers is relatively pocket-sized – about 2 weeks or less. Notwithstanding, there are a handful of exceptions. In Japan, almost one-half of all the bachelor paid go out for new parents – xxx weeks – is earmarked for new fathers. And in Korea, men are allotted the equivalent of almost fifteen weeks of paid leave. Portugal, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden and Iceland are as well relatively generous in this regard, offering most two months of leave or more to new dads.

These estimates are based upon a "total-rate equivalent." This measure is calculated past the OECD every bit the full number of weeks of whatsoever paid leave available to a new parent, multiplied by the boilerplate rate of earnings reimbursement for those weeks of leave. (While many countries reimburse 100% of boilerplate earnings or slightly less, particularly for maternity leave, less than 30% of average earnings is reimbursed in other paid leave situations.)

It'south of import to note that while the U.S. is the merely country that does not take a national paid get out mandate, California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia all have country-mandated paid leave plans in place. The state of Washington passed a state-mandated paid leave program in 2017; it will take outcome at the offset of 2020.

At the federal level, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would provide federal workers – both women and men –  with 12 weeks of paid go out to care for a newborn or adopted child. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure this week, and President Donald Trump has indicated his support for the plan.

Note: This is an updated version of a post originally published on Dec. 12, 2013.

Gretchen Livingston is a former senior researcher focusing on fertility and family demographics at Pew Research Center.

Deja Thomas is a quondam research assistant focusing on social and demographic trends.