Approximately 36 percent of workers in Westchester County, New York lack paid sick time, and low-income and part-time workers are especially unlikely to be covered. Access to paid sick time promotes safe and healthy work environments by reducing the spread of illness (Kumar, et al. 2013; Drago 2010) and workplace injuries (Asfaw, Pana-Cryan, and Rosa 2012), reduces health care costs (Miller, Williams, and Yi 2011), and reduces work-family conflict by providing greater flexibility to fulfill caregiving responsibilities (Allen, et al. 2014). This briefing paper presents estimates of access to paid sick time in Westchester County by sex, race and ethnicity, occupation, part/full-time employment status, and personal earnings through analysis of government data sources, including the 2012–2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2012–2014 American Community Survey (ACS).
Access to Paid Sick Time by Sex and Race/Ethnicity
— Among all workers in Westchester County, 64 percent have access to paid sick time (Figure 1), and 36 percent, or about 123,000 workers, lack access (Table 1).1
— Workers of color are less likely than white workers to have access, with Hispanic workers substantially less likely to have access (Figure 1): 50 percent of Hispanic, 33 percent of Black, and 32 percent of Asian workers in Westchester County lack access to paid sick time compared with 31 percent of White workers (Table 1).
— State and local government workers are much more likely than private sector workers to have paid sick time: 87 percent of state and local government workers have access to paid sick time in Westchester County compared with 60 percent of private sector workers (Figure 1).
About the author
Jessica Milli is a Study Director at IWPR and Scholar in Residence at American University. She oversees IWPR’s work on paid sick days, providing technical assistance to dozens of communities across the country exploring paid sick days policies. In addition, Jessica leads IWPR research projects on breastfeeding and women in patenting.
Jessica has presented her work at events around the country and has testified before state and local legislative bodies on IWPR’s research. She has been interviewed in Bloomberg, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Marketplace, The Nation, TIME, ABC News, Fortune, and other national and regional outlets. Prior to joining IWPR, Jessica taught economics courses ranging from principles of microeconomics and economic statistics, to game theory and labor economics at several institutions including UW-Milwaukee, UW-Whitewater, and Randolph College.
Jessica received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During her studies, she applied her focus of Labor Economics to relationships within households and what economic factors put women at more risk of experiencing domestic violence. Her dissertation analyzed the complex relationship between domestic violence and various measures of women’s socioeconomic status, such as welfare receipt and employment.
