The health effects of Paid Family and Medical Leave





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April 19, 2018

The health effects of Paid Family and Medical Leave

Health is influenced by a variety of factors, such as where people live, access to healthy foods, and affordability of health care. Policies that address a worker's ability to care for family members, like Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML), also shape health outcomes.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's new report, Time to Care:The Health Effects of Paid Family & Medical Leave, finds that PFML can have a range of effects on child health, parental health, and senior health.
The report explores the different impacts PFML has on health outcomes, which include:
  • Reducing negative effects that particular aspects of work have on pregnant women, many of which are associated with delivery complications.
  • Benefits to children's and mothers' health through increased rates and duration of breastfeeding when mothers are able to take leave.
  • More time for parents to bond with newborns, recover from childbirth, and take young children to the doctor.
  • Improvement of mothers' mental health when they have access to job-protected, paid leave.
  • More time for workers to care for elder relatives.
Read the full report here.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts.
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