Access to and Use of Leave Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, August 26, 2026                                USDL-26-1420

Technical information:  (202) 691-6339  *  atusinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/tus
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                      ACCESS TO AND USE OF LEAVE - 2024-2025
                      DATA FROM THE AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY


In 2024-25, 71 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave at their jobs, the U.S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was an increase from 2017-18, when 66 percent of 
workers had access to paid leave.  

These findings are from a supplementary set of questions--the 2024-25 Leave and Job Flexibilities 
Module--that was asked as part of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and sponsored by the 
Department of Labor's Women's Bureau. The data on leave were collected directly from wage and 
salary workers, excluding the self-employed. Workers sometimes do not know whether they can use 
leave until they have a need to do so. The measures of leave apply only to a person's sole or 
main job. For individuals with more than one job, this is the job in which they usually work 
the most hours. For more information about the ATUS Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, see 
the Technical Note.

Comparisons in this news release are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can 
be important in explaining differences in leave access, including differences in the distribution 
of workers by their full- or part-time work status.  

Access to paid or unpaid leave in 2024-25:

 --On average, 71 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave at their jobs. 
   Seventy-eight percent of wage and salary workers had access to unpaid leave, and an additional 8 
   percent were unsure whether they had access to unpaid leave. Ninety-four percent of workers had 
   access to either paid or unpaid leave. (See table 2.)

 --The percentage of wage and salary workers with access to paid leave increased from 66 percent in 
   2017-18 to 71 percent in 2024-25. The gains in access to paid leave were widespread across 
   demographic and other characteristics. (See table 1.)

 --The percentage of women with access to paid leave increased from 65 percent in 2017-18 to 69 
   percent in 2024-25. The percentage of men with access to paid leave increased from 67 percent to 
   73 percent over the same time period. (See table 1.)

 --Wage and salary workers in management, business, and financial operations occupations were the 
   most likely to have access to paid leave (90 percent). Workers in service occupations (45 
   percent) and construction and extraction occupations (50 percent) were the least likely to have 
   access to paid leave. (See table 2.)

 --Public-sector workers were more likely than private-sector workers to have access to paid 
   leave--81 percent, compared with 69 percent. While the share of public-sector workers with 
   access to paid leave was about the same in 2017-18 (79 percent), the share of private-sector 
   workers with access to paid leave rose by 6 percentage points, up from 63 percent in 2017-18. 
   (See table 1.)

 --Among single jobholders, full-time workers were more than twice as likely as part-time workers 
   to have access to paid leave-81 percent, compared with 32 percent. (See table 2.) 

 --Among full-time wage and salary workers with only one job, those in the top 25 percent of 
   earners were the most likely to have access to paid leave (91 percent). Workers in the lowest 
   25 percent of earners were the least likely to have access to paid leave (63 percent). (See 
   table 2.)

 --Own illness or medical care (95 percent) and vacation (94 percent) were the most common reasons 
   for which workers could use paid leave. The most common reasons for which workers could use 
   unpaid leave were for own illness or medical care (92 percent) and illness or medical care of a 
   family member (86 percent). (See table 3.) 

 --Wage and salary workers who could work at home as part of their job were more likely to have 
   access to paid leave (86 percent) than were workers who could not work at home (63 percent). 
   (See table 2.)

Use of paid or unpaid leave in 2024-25:

 --During an average week, 21 percent of wage and salary workers took leave, either paid or unpaid, 
   from their job. These workers took an average of 14.4 hours of leave. (See table 4.)

 --Of those wage and salary workers who took leave from their jobs during an average week, 69 
   percent used paid leave only. (See table 5.)

 --In an average week, 8 percent of wage and salary workers took leave for vacation, 4 percent took 
   leave because they were ill or needed medical care, and 4 percent took leave to run errands or 
   for personal reasons. (See table 6.)

 --During an average week, women were more likely than men to take leave from their jobs (23 
   percent, compared with 20 percent) and took over an hour more of leave than men (15 hours, 
   compared with 13.8 hours). (See table 4.)

 --Of those who took leave during an average week, women and men were equally likely to take leave 
   for their own illness or medical care (20 percent and 21 percent, respectively). However, women 
   were more likely than men to take leave because a family member was ill or needed medical care 
   (10 percent, compared with 7 percent) or a vacation (41 percent, compared with 35 percent). Men 
   were more likely than women to take leave for errands or personal reasons (23 percent, compared 
   with 14 percent). (See table 4.) 

 --Among workers who took leave during an average week, parents living with children under age 18 
   were more likely to take leave because a family member was ill or needed medical care than were 
   workers who were not parents living with children (10 percent, compared with 7 percent). Those 
   who were not parents were more likely to take leave for their own illness or medical care (22 
   percent) than were workers who were parents of household children (18 percent). (See table 4.)

Non-use of leave in 2024-25:

 --Eight percent of wage and salary workers needed to take leave during an average month but, for 
   various reasons, did not take leave. About 40 percent of these workers needed to take leave for 
   their own illness or medical care, 24 percent needed to take leave for illness or medical care 
   of a family member, and 21 percent needed to take leave for errands or personal reasons. (See 
   table 7.)

 --During an average month, women were more likely than men to experience times when they needed to 
   take leave but did not (10 percent, compared with 7 percent). The most common reason for needing 
   leave for both women and men was for their own illness or medical care (40 percent and 39 
   percent, respectively). (See table 7.)  

 --Of those workers who needed to take leave during an average month but did not, 29 percent did 
   not take leave because they had too much work, 14 percent did not take leave because they feared 
   negative employment consequences or because their leave request was denied, and 13 percent did 
   not take leave because they could not afford the loss in income. (See table 8.)


 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
|                                                                                             |
|                                  Federal Government Shutdown                                |
|                                                                                             |
| Some agencies of the federal government--including the Bureau of Labor Statistics--were     | 
| shut down or operating at reduced staffing levels from October 1, 2025, through November    |
| 12, 2025.                                                                                   |
|                                                                                             |
| All American Time Use Survey (ATUS) operations were suspended from October 1 through        |
| November 12. No call attempts were made and no interviews were completed during the         |
| shutdown. Because ATUS interviews are conducted every day and collect time diaries about    |
| "yesterday"--that is, the day prior to the interview day--there are no data for the 2024-25 |
| Leave and Job Flexibilities Module for September 30 through November 11, 2025. Data         |
| collection resumed on November 13, 2025.                                                    |
|                                                                                             |
| Leave and Job Flexibilities estimates are generated using statistical weights. The method   |
| used to generate the Leave and Job Flexibilities Module weights differs from the method used|
| for the ATUS weights. The sum of the module weights is equal to the number of person-days in|
| the month for the population of wage and salary workers as a whole and for selected         |
| subpopulations of wage and salary workers. Because the data use monthly weights and no data |
| were collected in October 2025, the estimates presented in this news release represent      |
| 12-month annual averages for 2024 and 11-month annual averages for 2025.                    |
|_____________________________________________________________________________________________|