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Issue Brief
•
June 2007
Center for Economic andPolicy Research
1611 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009tel: 202-293-5380fax: 202-588-1356 www.cepr.net
Job Tenure and Firm Size ProvisionsExclude Many Young Parents fromFamily and Medical Leave
B
Y
H
EATHER
B
OUSHEY AND
J
OHN
S
CHMITT
*
Two provisions in the Family and Medical Leave Act exclude a significant share of those who need unpaid family and medical leave. First, the requirement of a fullyear with the current employer to make use of leave excludes many first-timeparents from coverage. Second, the requirement of having at least 50 employeesalso sharply reduces those eligible for leave. Both factors may lead to “job-lock”. The attached tables shows job tenure (in years) and firm size for workers by gender,race, age, presence of a young child (aged 2 or under). Due to the limitations of thedata, the firm size is the total number of workers at all establishments, not justlocations within 50 miles of where an employee works.Some key findings are:
Among workers aged 18 to 25, 43.3 percent of women and 31.2 percent of men with a child at home have held their job for less than a year (
Table 1
).
Among workers aged 18 to 25, 38.5 percent of whites, 48.0 percent of blacks, and 31.5 percent of Hispanics with a child at home have held theirjob for less than a year (
Table 2
).
Over a third of workers are employed in smaller firms. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide data for firms with 50 people or less, butgiven the trends shown in
Tables 3
and
4
, there is strong evidence that thisprovision has a large effect on the eligible population.
(Tables to follow)
*Heather Boushey and John Schmitt are Senior Economists at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington,DC.
Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2007
•
2
TABLE 1Share of Workers with Years of Job Tenure by Gender, Age of Worker, and Presence of Child under Age 2in the Home
Aged 18 to 25 Aged 26 to 35 Aged 36 to 45 Aged 46 to 55 Aged 56 to 64Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Job tenure No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
Women
0 <1 40.4 43.3 23.7 21.2 15.6 14.9 10.2 7.3 7.3 75.51 <2 17.5 17.1 13.5 12.7 9.1 9.1 6.5 16.4 4.8 0.02 <5 32.0 29.5 29.1 27.6 22.6 22.1 17.8 12.0 15.6 0.05 <10 10.2 9.8 25.3 31.0 26.4 27.9 22.5 22.3 20.4 0.010 <20 0.0 0.3 8.4 7.5 21.5 23.4 25.7 42.1 26.0 24.620+ 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 4.8 2.5 17.4 0.0 26.0 0.0
Men
0 <1 34.7 31.2 20.6 19.2 12.1 13.2 9.2 11.2 7.7 0.01 <2 25.0 19.1 11.6 11.4 7.4 8.0 5.5 15.5 4.6 0.02 <5 29.9 32.9 27.4 27.3 18.3 25.3 14.8 13.8 14.7 0.05 <10 9.8 16.3 28.4 32.3 25.0 26.7 19.1 23.6 17.0 65.010 <20 0.6 0.5 12.0 9.8 28.5 23.4 25.3 23.0 21.9 5.520+ 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.7 3.4 26.2 12.9 34.1 29.5Source: CEPR analysis of the Current Population Survey Tenure Supplement, survey year 2006.
Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2007
•
3
TABLE 2Share of Workers with Years of Job Tenure by Race/ Ethnicity, Age of Worker, and Presence of Child under Age 2in the Home
Aged 18 to 25 Aged 26 to 35 Aged 36 to 45 Aged 46 to 55 Aged 56 to 64Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Has childunder age 2Job tenure No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
White
0 <1 36.4 38.5 20.5 17.7 13.4 11.5 9.2 10.2 7.5 0.01 <2 20.0 15.7 12.4 12.0 7.5 7.7 5.7 18.8 4.7 0.02 <5 31.6 32.8 27.3 25.9 19.1 21.7 15.0 11.1 14.1 0.05 <10 11.9 12.3 27.9 34.3 25.4 27.6 20.3 24.2 18.0 24.810 <20 0.2 0.7 11.9 10.1 26.5 27.9 26.2 26.4 23.8 36.920+ 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 8.1 3.5 23.7 9.5 31.9 38.2
Black
0 <1 42.9 48.0 25.6 28.3 13.7 18.6 12.1 21.8 7.6 0.01 <2 22.7 20.1 13.2 12.7 9.9 10.2 5.7 12.9 6.7 0.02 <5 29.5 25.8 29.1 25.5 21.9 27.4 17.2 27.1 15.0 0.05 <10 4.9 6.2 26.2 26.3 28.3 19.7 20.0 1.7 19.5 0.010 <20 0.0 0.0 5.9 7.2 22.3 21.0 23.5 30.5 21.2 0.020+ 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.8 3.2 21.6 6.2 30.0 0.0
Hispanic
0 <1 37.8 31.5 24.7 22.3 16.3 20.2 10.9 5.6 9.1 0.01 <2 22.7 21.4 12.0 10.9 10.4 11.9 8.1 5.5 4.0 0.02 <5 31.2 30.2 30.6 34.1 25.8 31.9 23.4 10.9 22.6 0.05 <10 7.7 16.9 24.0 26.0 24.7 23.0 23.8 35.9 21.7 100.010 <20 0.6 0.0 8.8 6.7 19.7 10.8 22.6 23.0 23.4 0.020+ 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.1 2.2 11.2 19.2 19.3 0.0Source: CEPR analysis of the Current Population Survey Tenure Supplement, survey year 2006.
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