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Chapter Resource Center
Investing In Better Families With Paid Leave
About $10 a week — that's what the chapter's own math says it would cost a typical worker to fund six months of fully paid leave for every child they have.
From Idea to Action
The U.S. is the only developed country without a national paid parental leave policy. The chapter proposes “Six Months to Bond” — six months of fully paid leave per parent, per child — and does the actual math on what it would cost.
The Gap, Today
FMLA guarantees unpaid leave only — and even that excludes roughly 40% of the workforce on eligibility technicalities. Only 23% of American workers have access to any paid family leave, and it’s concentrated almost entirely among higher earners.
What It Would Actually Cost You
For a worker earning $20/hour ($41,600/year), six months of full-salary leave costs about $20,800 per child. Spread across a 40-year working life, that’s about $1,040/year — split evenly between worker and employer, roughly $520/year each, or about $10 a week from the worker’s side.
Built to Scale With Income
The contribution is a flat 2.5% of wages (1.25% from the worker), not a flat dollar amount — so a $15/hour worker contributes about $7.50/week, a $50/hour professional about $25/week. Same percentage, same benefit structure, no one priced out.
Not Just a Parental Benefit
The chapter’s case for employers isn’t charity — paid leave is linked to lower turnover and higher loyalty, and those savings tend to outweigh the modest employer contribution.