Just when we started making progress on things like paid maternity leave (we were making progress on that, right?), the economy goes in the shitter. Now, companies are having to cut back on family-friendly benefits like paid time off for having a baby/adopting a baby/raising a baby.
Sucky!
In fact leaves and pay for time off for both parents are at lower levels than they were a decade ago.
From WSJonline:
Only 16% of employers offer full pay for childbirth leave, down from
27% in 1998, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,100
employers by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute. The average
maximum length of job-guaranteed leaves for new mothers shrank too, to
15.2 weeks from 16.1 weeks a decade ago; leave for dads fell to 12.6
weeks from 13.1.
It's not that The Man is evil (I guess). Instead, it's the growing cost of disability insurance, which is what covers most maternity leave costs in the U.S. So moms are taking much, much less time off after baby. Parents are also having to take on more debt, or plan very carefully (and hope for no glitches) when deciding whether and when to have a baby.
Photo: WSJonline.com
