QuickStats: Percentage* of Currently Employed Adults Aged ≥18 Years Who Had Paid Sick Leave Benefits† at Last Week’s Job or Business, by Region — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019 and 2020§
Weekly / April 29, 2022 / 71(17);611
* With 95% CIs indicated by error bars.
† Based on responses to the question, “Regarding your job or work last week, is paid sick leave available if you need it?”
§ Estimates were based on household interviews of a sample of adults aged ≥18 years who were working last week, were not working last week because they were temporarily absent, or who performed seasonal or contract work. The number of employed adults declined 5.1% from 2019 to 2020, particularly among workers without access to paid sick leave.
The percentage of currently employed adults who had access to paid sick leave increased from 62.1% in 2019 to 66.5% in 2020. During this period, increases were noted among all regions of the country (Northeast: from 65.6% to 69.8%, Midwest: from 60.1% to 64.5%, South: from 59.1% to 63.5%, and West: from 65.8% to 70.3%). In both years, rates were highest in the Northeast and West and lowest in the Midwest and South.
Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2019–2020 data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm
Reported by: Abay Asfaw, PhD, [email protected], 202-245-0635; Regina Pana-Cryan, PhD; Roger Rosa, PhD.
For more information about this topic, CDC recommends the following link: https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2012/07/30/sick-leave/
Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Currently Employed Adults Aged ≥18 Years Who Had Paid Sick Leave Benefits at Last Week’s Job or Business, by Region — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2019 and 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:611. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7117a4.
MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report are service marks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
All HTML versions of MMWR articles are generated from final proofs through an automated process. This conversion might result in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users are referred to the electronic PDF version (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr) and/or the original MMWR paper copy for printable versions of official text, figures, and tables.
Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to [email protected].