Paid Sick Days Access and Usage Rates Vary by Race/Ethnicity, Occupation, and Earnings

From our friends at IWPR:

Analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) finds that four in ten workers in the United States lack access to paid sick days, and among those who do have access, only 55 percent of workers actually used any sick days in the previous year. Inequality in access to paid sick days exists within and across occupations, with supervisors more likely to have paid sick days than non-supervisors. Hispanic, low-wage, and food service and personal care workers are least likely to have access to this important benefit.

Read the report at http://iwpr.org/publications/pubs/paid-sick-days-access-and-usage-rates-vary-by-race-ethnicity-occupation-and-earnings.

The Elephant in the Room-The Gender Gap, Women's Wages and Politics

The U.S. ranks a low 22nd among nations, according to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Index, which measures the gap between men and women in four categories: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

Women's wages in the U.S. are stuck at 77 cents to a man's dollar for full-time year round work, with mothers and women of color experiencing a gap that's larger still. The U.S. ranks a low 80th of all nations in terms of women's representation in our national legislature. Only four percent of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. The U.S. lags behind more than 150 other nations on paid family leave and earned sick days policies, both of which are critical to the economic security of women and their families.

Read the full Article Here
by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner