Job Quality and Income Security
A good job provides workers and their families with a path to economic security with adequate wages for supporting themselves in the present and the tools for building future prosperity through saving, caring for and supporting family members and loved ones in the future. IWPR provides research and analysis on the impact quality jobs have on the economic well-being of workers, families, businesses, and communities.
We provide research and analysis on issues related to work-family policies, such as paid sick and family medical leave; wages, the social safety, and economic impact payments; benefits, health insurance, retirement security and pension access; scheduling, job security and flexibility; and career mobility and advancement.
Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave in the United States
The United States is among a very small number of countries in the world without a statutory right to paid maternity leave for employees. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s (IWPR) analysis of Working Mother magazine’s “100 Best Companies” finds that almost all of the top companies provide some paid maternity leave and, between 2006 and 2010, these employers dramatically expanded coverage for paternity and adoptive parent leave.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research and Labor Resource Center Paid Family and Medical Leave Simulation Model
In developing a simulation model to estimate the cost of paid family and medical leave programs in a given state, we rely on data documenting known leave-taking behavior. Where this is not possible, we provide a set of reasonable assumptions about unknown aspects of behavior in the presence of a paid leave program.
The Costs and Benefits of Paid Sick Days
Testimony of Kevin Miller, Ph.D., Institute for Women’s Policy Research before the House Labor Committee of the 96th General Assembly of Illinois regarding H.B. 3665, the Healthy Workplace Act.
Valuing Good Health in New Hampshire: The Costs and Benefits of Paid Sick Days
Read Executive Summary New Hampshire lawmakers are now considering HB 662, which would make it mandatory for businesses with 10 or more employees to provide paid sick days. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has estimated the costs and benefits of the [...]
Maternity Leave in the United States: Paid Parental Leave is Still Not Standard, Even Among the Best U.S. Employers
Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of the best employers for working mothers provide four or fewer weeks of paid maternity leave, and half (52 percent) provide six weeks or less, according to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research analysis of data provided by Working Mother Media, Inc., publisher of Working Mother magazine.