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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employee Benefits > Publications > Factsheets

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.

Chart 1 data table

Chart 1. Percent of private industry workers in medium and large establishments participating in unpaid leave benefits
Year	Incidence of unpaid maternity leave	Incidence of unpaid paternity leave
1988	33%	16%
1989	37%	18%
1991	37%	26%
1993	60%	53%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

In 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted and required establishments with 50 or more employees to provide 12 unpaid workweeks of leave during any 12-month period for various family matters including parental leave. Following the legislation, the BLS began publishing access rates to 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. (See table 1.)

Table 1. Availability⁽¹⁾ of family leave benefits for reference years 1994 - 1998
Year	Private industry workers				State and local government workers
	Small establishments (less than 100 workers)		Medium and large establishments (100 workers or more)		State and local government workers
	Paid⁽²⁾	Unpaid	Paid⁽²⁾	Unpaid	Paid⁽²⁾	Unpaid
1994	2%	47%	-	-	4%	93%
1995	-	-	2%	84%	-	-
1996	2%	48%	-	-	-	-
1997	-	-	2%	93%	-	-
1998	-	-	-	-	4%	95%
Footnotes: (1) Availability denotes rate of workers that are eligible to participate in family leave and have met all eligibility restrictions. (2) Incidence of paid family leave includes only plans in which the employer incurs a cost.
Note: Dash indicates estimates were not published for the reference year. Sum of paid and unpaid leave does not necessarily sum to 100 percent as workers may have one or both plan benefits available to them. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Estimates on family leave were not published between the years 1999 and 2004, but resumed publication in 2005 for private industry workers and in 2008 for state and local government workers. Estimates for civilian workers, the combination of the private and public economic sector workers, were also added in 2008.

In March 2023, 27 percent of civilian workers had access to paid family leave and 90 percent had access to unpaid family leave. Twenty-seven percent of private industry workers had access to paid family leave and 89 had access to unpaid family leave. Among state and local government workers, 28 percent had access to paid family leave and 94 had access to unpaid family leave. (See charts 2 and 3).

Chart 2 data table

Table 2. Percent of workers with access to paid family leave benefits by ownership, 2014-2023
Year	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
2014	13%	12%	16%
2015	13%	12%	16%
2016	14%	13%	16%
2017	15%	13%	25%
2018	17%	16%	25%
2019	19%	18%	25%
2020	21%	20%	26%
2021	23%	23%	26%
2022	25%	24%	27%
2023	27%	27%	28%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Chart 3 data table

Table 3. Percent of workers with access to unpaid family leave benefits by ownership, 2014-2023
Year	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
2014	87%	85%	94%
2015	88%	87%	94%
2016	88%	87%	94%
2017	88%	87%	94%
2018	89%	88%	94%
2019	89%	88%	94%
2020	89%	88%	94%
2021	89%	89%	94%
2022	90%	89%	94%
2023	90%	89%	94%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

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.

Among civilian workers 93 percent of management, professional, and related occupations had access to unpaid family leave and 39 percent had access to paid leave, while 83 percent of service occupations had access to unpaid family leave and 16 percent had access to paid leave. (See chart 4).

Chart 4 data table

Table 4. Percent of civilian workers with access to family leave benefits by occupational group, March 2023
Occupation	Paid family leave	Unpaid family leave
Management, professional and related	39%	93%
Service	16%	83%
Sales and office	29%	91%
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	19%	88%
Production, transportation, and material moving	20%	91%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Technical Note

The Handbook of Methods: National Compensation Measures provides information on the survey design, calculations, weighting, and imputation methods used to produce estimates for the ECI, ECEC, and benefit publications. Information on calculating the reliability of estimates (standard errors) is also included in the calculation section.

Private industry estimates should not be directly compared with state and local government estimates as differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures. Manufacturing and sales, for example, comprise a large portion of private industry work activities but are rare in state and local government. Professional and administrative support occupations (including teachers) account for two-thirds of the state and local government workforce, compared with one-half of private industry.

BLS advises against making comparisons with previously published benefits estimates due to changes in weighting, effects from sample rotation, and changes in estimation and imputation methodology.

Private industry estimates for paid and unpaid family leave are not available for March 2009 reference year. Estimation and imputation changes were implemented during that reference year which reduced the BLS’ ability to publish many paid and unpaid leave benefits.

For all published estimates of cost, coverage, and provisions of employer-sponsored benefit plans see the Benefits publications list.

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Last Modified Date: September 21, 2023