Why Paid Family Leave Makes for Happier Parents

Studies show that parents are generally less happy than their childless peers鈥攁nd lack of government support is largely to blame.

Why you can trust us

By Kristen Schultz Lee &
Hiroshi Ono

4 MIN READ

Apr 18, 2022

The U.S. advanced economy , despite overwhelming .

Employers are free to provide this benefit at their own expense. But only , including , can take paid time off to care for a newborn or a newly adopted or fostered child. That鈥檚 problematic for many reasons, including the abundant evidence that paid leave boosts healthy and .

President Joe Biden has sought to , initially through his package, which is now on hold. He reasserted his calls to do so in his March 2022 .

Based on our extensive research regarding the connections between and the , we鈥檙e certain that expanding access to paid leave to more employees would make them happier.

Children and Unhappy Parents

In recent years, a growing number of studies have indicated that , are than their childless peers, especially when their .

Parents also experience more , , and .

Some scholars argue that a for raising kids is causing this 鈥�.鈥�

Only 6.3% of 3-year-olds and just over 33% of 4-year-olds nationwide are enrolled in a , although free early childhood education is becoming more common. Likewise, just and the District of Columbia now provide paid family leave for new parents.

In other words, most U.S. families are still being left behind. And without universal free pre-K or , many parents are in terms of finding and paying for private child care for young children.

Paid family leave of at least a month can help parents develop more . For example, it can allow parents to spend more time reading and singing to their child, which benefits cognitive development.

The effects of paid leave on the relationship between parents depends on who is taking the leave. If only mothers take family leave, then increases. But when fathers take paid leave, couples share their housework responsibilities and child care .

This is because when both parents take a leave after the arrival of a new child, they are more likely to establish household routines that result in an equal sharing of household tasks. One study found that when fathers were encouraged to take a parental leave, their participation in household tasks increased by .

When parents are free to take to care for their infants and newly adopted children with fewer financial costs and little fear of job loss鈥攁nd especially when dads are encouraged to take time off鈥攂oth children and their parents are happier.

Global Perspectives

spanning , we鈥檝e found that parents in wealthy countries with weak safety nets鈥斺€攖end to be less happy than their counterparts in countries , where the government provides everyone with more support.

This is one reason Finland, Norway, and other nations with strong welfare states at the top of the , an annual assessment based on Gallup World Poll data.

The in that report given its economic standing, while the opposite is true in the case of Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, and other welfare states.

when governments step up their spending on social programs and adjust tax burdens to make the rich shoulder more of the costs of running the government, economic inequality declines. At the same time, the happiness levels of low-income and high-income people become more similar.

Higher social spending especially increases the happiness of women with small children and people who are cohabiting but unmarried. Other international research shows greater and benefits of paid leave for low-income families.

by other scholars who study countries that have invested heavily in social welfare policies like paid family leave further supports our findings.

Respondents in the were more satisfied with their work, health, and family life than people in places with weaker safety nets.

As one notable example, a that one of us co-authored showed that the Japanese government鈥檚 investments in generous paid leave for families with small children, access to child care, child allowances, and free health insurance for children, as well as increased benefits for older adults, were associated with modest gains in overall happiness.

These policies made significant differences for women with small children and older people, who became happier between 1990 and 2010.

Losing Benefits Can Decrease Happiness

In addition, there is evidence of what can happen when government benefits that meet many people鈥檚 needs are taken away. In the , satisfaction generally rose between 1990, just before its transition to a free-market economy from a communist state, and 2004 in terms of the freedom to buy goods and services.

On the other hand, that same study found that satisfaction in the place that also used to be called East Germany plummeted concerning health, work, and child care. People had been guaranteed access to health care and child care, as well as job security, under communist rule鈥攂ut all of that changed when that system collapsed.

Federal paid leave gives families a chance to find their footing after the arrival of a new child, without having to quit their jobs or take unpaid time off. It should come as no surprise that such a safety net would make families not only economically more secure, but happier too.

This article was originally published by . It has been republished here with permission.

Kristen Schultz Lee is an associate professor of Sociology at the University at Buffalo.

Hiroshi Ono is a professor of Human Resource Management at the School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University.