Although the majority (70 percent) of full-time workers in the U.S. are afforded paid sick leave, just 19 percent of part-time workers have that benefit, according to the report.
The primary reasons people without paid sick leave forgo medical care and continue to work through illness or injury are to prevent loss of income or avoid losing their job altogether. “Our findings indicate that needed care is three times more likely to be delayed or put off entirely because of cost for the adult worker without paid sick leave,” the study authors wrote. “Family members are two times more likely to delay needed medical care and 1.6 times more likely to forgo needed care when paid sick leave is not present.”
The researchers used a cross-sectional sample from the 2013 National Health Interview Survey to derive a representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population. NHIS survey interviews were conducted with one randomly selected adult from each participating family by a trained Census Bureau employee by phone or in person.
They identified 10,586 working adults with paid sick leave benefits and 7,879 without. Those without paid sick leave were more likely to be male, unmarried, less educated and Hispanic; hold service occupations; work part-time; lack health insurance; have fair or poor health; have a limiting health condition; and have lower incomes.
Nearly 65 percent of families with incomes under $35,000 had no paid sick leaves, compared with 25 percent of families who earned more than $100,000 per year.
Paid sick leave is important, not only because it allows ill workers to recover speedily, but “the ability to stay home from work because of illness also allows workers and their dependent children to self-quarantine when necessary, without concerns about income or job loss,” the study authors wrote.
Of the 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development, the U.S. is the only one that does not require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave, according to the report.
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