Paid Family and Medical Leave in New Hampshire: Who Has It? Who Takes It?

This brief uses data collected by the Granite State Poll in 2016 to examine New Hampshire workers’ access to paid family and medical leave and the use of paid or unpaid leave for family and medical reasons. Understanding who lacks access to paid family and medical leave benefits and the underlying factors contributing to differences in those who take time away from work for family caregiving is important. Without access to paid family and medical leave, New Hampshire’s working families may face barriers to financial stability, employment, and future opportunities. Author Kristin Smith reports that about one-third of New Hampshire workers have jobs without extended paid leave to tend to their own illness; about half lack access to parental leave; and two-thirds lack access to paid leave to care for an ill family member. Less than a third of workers have access to all three types of extended paid leave (for their own illness, parental leave, and care for a family member). Workers living in families earning less than $60,000 a year have less access to extended paid family and medical leave benefits than do those with higher incomes. Women are less likely to have jobs that provide paid family and medical leave but are more likely to take leave. Sixty percent of employed women have taken paid or unpaid family and medical leave compared with 40 percent of employed men. New Hampshire men who know another man who has taken leave without negative consequences are twice as likely to take leave themselves compared to men who do not know another man taking leave (52 and 24 percent, respectively)