San Francisco Employment Growth Remains Stronger with Paid Sick Days Law Than Surrounding Counties

The Institute on Women’s Policy Research just released an update of a study of San Francisco’s paid sick days ordinance. San Francisco implemented a paid sick days ordinance in February of 2007 that is very similar to the bill passed by Philadelphia’s City Council this spring.

While many fear that businesses will leave Philadelphia if it has a paid sick days law and people will lose their jobs, the data from San Francisco shows that the growth of employment in the city exceeded the growth in surrounding countries that do not have such an ordinance. Cities throughout the country saw a decline in employment due to the recession, but the decline in San Francisco was less than those in the surrounding counties.

It is particularly interesting that the data shows that in jobs with the lowest rates of access to paid sick days, mainly accommodation and food services, the employment growth in San Francisco still exceeded surrounding counties both prior to and during the recession. Despite theories that the business would suffer in San Francisco due to the ordinance, they are weathering the recession better than other counties.

To read a press release from IWPR on this study, please click here.