What data does the BLS publish on family leave?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) first published data on family leave for the 1988 reference period, which provided information on the percent of full-time workers in medium and large establishments (100 or more workers) participating in unpaid maternity leave (33 percent), unpaid paternity leave (16 percent), paid maternity leave (2 percent), and paid paternity leave (1 percent).

Over time, the provisions of family leave captured and published by the BLS have evolved. For example, between the 1988 and 1993 publications included incidence of maternity and paternity leave (see chart 1), as well as participation rates and duration of family leave benefits.

The passage of the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) required employers with 50 or more workers to provide employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child and family illness (employee, child, spouse, or parent). Following the legislation, the BLS began publishing access rates to paid and unpaid family leave and no longer differentiated between maternity and paternity leave benefits.

Between the years of 1994 and 1998, the BLS alternated publication of benefits for workers in small private industry establishments (less than 100 workers), workers in medium and large private industry establishments (100 or more workers), and for state and local government workers. Publication of family leave estimates resumed for all private industry establishments in 2005 and for state and local government in 2007. (See table 1.)

Beginning in 2008, a new annual bulletin, titled Employee Benefits in the United States, included benefit estimates for private industry workers, state and local government workers, as well as civilian workers, the combination of the private industry and state and local government workers. This included access to paid and unpaid family leave benefits.

Estimates are available for civilian workers, private industry workers, and state and local government workers by worker and establishment characteristics, and geographic areas. For more information, see the Classification Systems Used by the National Compensation Survey (NCS) page.

In March 2008, 9 percent of civilian workers had access to paid family leave and 85 percent had access to unpaid family leave. In March 2023, 27 percent of civilian workers had access to paid family leave and 90 percent had access to unpaid family leave.

Paid family and medical leave

The definition for paid family leave was modified beginning in 2025. The new definition is in effect for estimates beginning with the March 2026 reference period. To distinguish the break in this estimate series, the new series is referred to as ‘Paid family and medical leave’. Paid family leave estimates are unavailable for 2024 and 2025 due to this change in scope.

For paid family leave released in 2023 and prior, estimates reflected workers with access to a plan that

1. was provided by the employer

2. had an employer cost

3. was beyond any state or local government mandate, and

4. provided paid time off to care for a family member, including maternity and paternity leave.

Paid family and medical leave estimates beginning with the March 2026 reference period reflect workers with access to a plan that

1. is provided by the employer 

2. has an employer cost, and

3. provides paid time off to care for oneself or a family member, including maternity and paternity leave.

The new definition includes all plans regardless of state or local government mandates.

More information

Estimates on the cost, coverage, and provisions of employer–sponsored benefit plans from 2010 to the present are available through the XLSX dataset and public database. Benefit estimates are not a time series and users are advised to consider changes in survey design, survey scope, estimation methods, weighting, and sample rotation when analyzing the data. Join the BLS Mailing Lists to receive notification of the latest data releases.

The glossary of employee benefit terms provides definitions for plans, provisions, coverage, and related terms. The Employee Benefits Handbook of Methods provides information on the survey design, calculations, weighting, and imputation methods used to produce compensation estimates. The calculation section includes information on the measures of reliability available for each estimate. Additional information on Employee Benefits can be found in the EBS Publications, Monthly Labor Review, and the questions and answers page.

Last Modified Date: September 25, 2026