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This analysis uses March Current Population Survey data from 1999 to 2010 and a differences-in-differences approach to examine how Californias first in the nation paid family leave (PFL) program affected leave-taking by mothers following childbirth, as well as subsequent labor market outcomes. We obtain robust evidence that the California program doubled the overall use of maternity leave, increasing it from an average of three to six weeks for new mothers—with some evidence of particularly large growth for less advantaged groups. We also provide evidence that PFL increased the usual weekly work hours of employed mothers of 1-to 3-year-old children by 10 to 17 percent and that their wage incomes may have risen by a similar amount.

The effects of paid parental leave policies on infant health have yet to be established. In this paper we investigate these effects by exploiting the introduction of California Paid Family Leave (PFL), the first program in the U.S. that specifically provides working parents with paid time off for bonding with a newborn. We measure health using the full census of infant hospitalizations in California and a set of control states, and implement a differences-in-differences approach. Our results suggest a decline in infant admissions, which is concentrated among those causes that are potentially affected by closer childcare (and to a lesser extent breastfeeding). Other admissions that are unlikely to be affected by parental leave do not exhibit the same pattern.

Background For the young plastic surgeon, the quantity of first-author peer-reviewed publications plays a prominent role in job offers and promotions. Women surgeons carry a disproportionate share of family responsibilities, contributing to their lower representation in positions of leader- ship and influence. Policies protecting reproductive rights and mandating paid family leave (PFL) boost women’s participation and productivity in the workplace. However, these policies vary by U.S., state and territory. Methods Web-scraped publication data from all PubMed-indexed plastic surgery journals from 2010 to 2022 were evaluated by first-author gender and affiliated state reproductive rights policy and PFL. Female first authors were further compared with men by publication output (1 article; ≥ 2; ≥ 5) by gender and by affiliated state policies. Results Protective reproductive rights policies were associated with greater representation of female first authors (3.3 percentage points; p value = 0.003). Protective reproductive rights policies and PFL were associated with a decreased publication gender gap (0.13 articles, p value < 0.001, and 0.18 articles, p value < 0.001, respectively). Protective reproductive policies and PFL had an even greater correlation with higher publication output among female first authors. Conclusions Protective reproductive rights and mandatory PFL are not only correlated with women’s representation among early-career researchers but with a reduction in the publication gender gap. Legislation and policies aimed at supporting women’s family responsibilities are associated with higher research productivity among women and likely play a significant role in attracting more women to higher academic ranks and improving gender equity in professional success in plastic surgery. Level of Evidence IV This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

ObjectivesTo assess changes in young parents’ health behaviors following implementation of New York State’s Paid Family Leave Program (NYSPFL).MethodsWe used synthetic control (N = 117,552) and difference-in-differences (N = 18,973) models with data from the nationally representative Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2011 to 2019 to provide individual-level estimates of the effects of NYSPFL on self-reported exercise in the past month and average daily sleep of adults aged 21–30 years living with one or more children under 18 years of age in New York and comparison states.ResultsSynthetic control model results indicate that the NYSPFL increased the likelihood of exercise in the past month among mothers, single parents, and low-income parents by 6.3–10.3% points (pp), whereas fathers showed a decrease in exercise (7.8 pp). Fathers, single parents, and those with two or more children showed increases in daily sleep between 14 and 21 min per day.Conclusions for practiceState paid family and medical leave laws may provide benefits for health behaviors among young parents with children under 18, particularly those in low-income and single-parent households.

Objectives. To determine if the introduction of New York State’s 8-week paid family leave policy on January 1, 2018, reduced rates of hospitalizations with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis or any acute lower respiratory tract infection among young infants. Methods. We conducted an interrupted time series analysis using New York State population-based, all-payer hospital discharge records, October 2015 to December 2019. We estimated the change in monthly hospitalization rates for RSV bronchiolitis and for any acute lower respiratory tract infection among infants aged 8 weeks or younger after the introduction of paid family leave while controlling for temporal trends and RSV seasonality. We modeled RSV hospitalization rates in infants aged 1 year as a control. Results. Hospitalization rates for RSV bronchiolitis and any acute lower respiratory tract infection decreased by 30% after the introduction of paid family leave (rate ratio [RR] = 0.71; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.54, 0.94; and RR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.59, 0.88, respectively). There were no such reductions in infants aged 1 year (RR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.72, 1.33; and RR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.03, 1.32, respectively). Conclusions. State paid family leave was associated with fewer RSV-associated hospitalizations in young infants. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(2):316–324. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306559 )

OBJECTIVE:Modifiable health risks such as smoking, exercise, and body weight have been linked to illness absence from work. This suggests that employers could improve their productivity if their workers adopted healthier lifestyles, but methodological concerns regarding selection bias and omitted variables remain. METHODS:We use a first-difference model of changes in health behaviors and illness- and family-related absence from work among a nationally representative, longitudinal panel of employed individuals. RESULTS:Workers who lost weight or increased their frequency of light exercise also saw their illness absences decrease over a 2-year period. Some, but not all, of the relationship is mediated by the change in health status. No such decrease was observed for family-related absences. CONCLUSION:The findings are consistent with the proposition that both employers and employees could benefit from efforts to support better health habits.

Women are still underrepresented in academic science, and universities are struggling to do something about it. But there are efforts afoot, reports Robin Mejia.

Sick leave, vacations, and the like lead to substantial leave factors. Rota design techniques for covering leave are not always feasible. A small company was helped to develop a new rota. The main requirements were an ergonomically better rota, less overtime caused by leave, and a rota that lets employees take their vacation during the summer. The internal evaluation was unanimously positive after 1 year. A prospective leave coverage was used, with different workhours during summer and spring and with a mixture of shift work and flexible day work. Later the rota was further refined, and broader qualifications of the workers made a much simpler rota possible. The experiences of this study indicate that problems with leave can be reduced if expected variations in leave are considered in the rota design by including variations in workhours. A further promising strategy is to mix shift work with other types of work when time is not a critical factor.

How much do employees value the various family support benefits offered by employers? A recent survey finds a correlation between employees' perceived utility of certain benefit programs and job satisfaction and performance.