Social Security Can Ensure Paid Family and Medical Leave
Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress explains why we need paid family and medical leave, what such a program would look like, and how we could pay for it.
Loading ...Heather Boushey: “Why do we need paid family and medical leave?
We need paid family and medical leave because our world has changed. One of the biggest transformations over the past half century has been the movement of women out of the home and into the labor market. So now it’s the case that most families no longer have someone at home to provide care for a sick kid or an ailing grandparent. And since everyone is at work, everyone needs paid time off when they have these family emergencies.
What would a paid family and medical leave program look like?
Well, the best kind of paid family medical leave program would be one that covers everyone, every single worker here in the country, and make sure that workers at all stages of their career, both new workers, and not only young workers entering the work forces, but also older workers can access the program and it provides a decent amount of income support while the person is on leave.
An easy way to do this would be to add paid family medical leave to our Social Security system. The Social Security System already provides not only the retirement benefits that we hear so much about, but also benefits for the disabled and survivors benefits. We could use those programs to expand the overall Social Security system to cover family and medical leaves as well.
And that way we would be addressing the most significant changes that we’ve seen in our labor market over the past half century, which is the fact that families no longer have someone at home.
Can we afford a paid family and medical leave program?
A paid family and medical leave program simply isn’t that expensive. Research done for the state of Massachutas when just that state implemented that kind of program, found it would only cost a $120 per worker per year. If we would add this amount into our Social Security system, that would mean adding about 1 to 3/10th of a percent to the payroll taxes that we already pay. It’s simply not that expensive. But it is very important to workers and their families.
So while it’s a small outlay in cost, the benefits the families get, especially during these stressful times when someone is sick or they have a new child, can be very significant. So the benefits far outweigh the costs.”
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