Caring for elderly parents: Evaluating family leave laws in comparative perspective

As the baby boomer generation ages, the need for laws to enhance quality of life for the elderly and meet the increasing demand for family caregivers will continue to grow. This paper reviews the national family leave laws of nine major OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, and United Kingdom) and provides a state-by-state analysis within the U.S. We find that the U.S. has the least generous family leave laws among the nine high-income countries. With the exception of two U.S. states (California and New Jersey), U.S. federal Family Medical Leave Act provides no right to paid family leave for eldercare. We survey the current evidence from the literature on how paid leave can impact family caregivers' employment and health outcomes, gender equality and economic arguments for and against such laws. We argue that a generous and flexible family leave law, financed through social insurance, would not only be more equitable, but also financially sustainable.