Millions of Working People Still Don’t Have Access to a Single Paid Sick Day

Authors: Sapna Mehta and Jessica Milli

Note: This article was published on June 2, 2023 by the Center for Law and Social Policy.

As corporate profits soar and the labor market tightens, employers in some sectors continue to experience staffing shortages. Yet data suggest that not all employers are stepping in to improve the quality of jobs to attract and retain new workers. In this brief, we use data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) to estimate the share of workers at the national and state level who have access to paid sick leave.

CLASP’s analysis examines access to paid sick leave at the national and state level by income, gender, and hours worked. We also compare access to paid sick leave in states with state and local paid sick leave laws and ordinances, as well as those without any requirements. Our analysis finds that a significant portion of the population still lacks access to paid sick leave, with disparities in access across income and hours worked. Moreover, those disparities are significantly narrower in states and localities with paid sick leave laws.