Access to paid leave, 2011

On average, 59 percent of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave at their main jobs in 2011.

[Chart data]

The proportion of white workers with access to paid leave (59 percent) was about the same as the average for all workers; Black or African American and Asian workers were about as likely to have access to paid leave (61 percent and 62 percent, respectively). Hispanic workers were less likely than non-Hispanic workers to have access to paid leave.

[Chart data]

Workers age 45 to 54 were more likely to have access to paid leave than workers in other age categories. Men and women were about equally likely to have access to paid leave at their main jobs in 2011: 60 percent of men, and 57 percent of women, had access to paid leave.

[Chart data]

Among wage and salary workers age 25 and over, 72 percent of workers with a bachelor's degree or higher had access to paid leave, compared with 35 percent of workers with less than a high school diploma.

These data are from the American Time Use Survey. To learn more, see "Access To and Use of Leave — 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1648. These data are from a supplementary set of questions asked as part of the 2011 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collected directly from wage and salary workers. The data thus represent only workers' knowledge on these topics; workers sometimes do not know whether they can use leave until they have a need to do so.