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Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Crowding-in

Johanna Catherine Maclean et al.

Journal of the European Economic Association2025https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvaf008article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Using the National Compensation Survey from 2009 to 2022 and difference-in-differences methods, we find that state-level sick pay mandates are effective in broadening access to paid sick leave for U.S. workers. Increases in sick pay coverage reach 30 percentage points from a 63% baseline 5 years post-mandate. Mandates have more bite in jobs with low pre-mandate coverage. Further, mandates reduce inequality in access to paid sick leave substantially, both across and within firms. COVID-19 reinforced existing upward trends in coverage and take-up. Five years post mandate, sick leave use has linearly increased to 2.4 days per year for marginal jobs. Finally, we find crowding-in of non-mandated benefits, which we label "job upscaling" by firms to differentiate jobs and attract labor.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvaf008

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@article{johanna2025,
  title        = {{Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Crowding-in}},
  author       = {Johanna Catherine Maclean et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of the European Economic Association},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvaf008},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.44 × 0.4 = 0.18
M · momentum0.65 × 0.15 = 0.10
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.