Paid Sick Days Don't Cause Unemployment

Publication Date:

Publisher: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Author(s): John Schmitt; Hye Jin Rho; Alison Earle; Jody Heymann

Research Area: Labor

Keywords: Unemployment rate; Labor policy; Employee benefits

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Critics of legislation requiring employers to provide paid sick days frequently argue that these measures will lead to job loss and raise the national unemployment rate. However, this issue brief shows that the experience of 22 countries with the highest level of social and economic development (as measured by the Human Development Index) suggests that there is no statistically significant relationship between national unemployment rates and legally-mandated access to paid sick days and leave.