Paid-leave access rose, but workers still face uneven flexibility
Paid-leave access has improved across the U.S. labor market, but new federal data show that having leave available does not necessarily mean workers can use it when they need it.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on August 26, 2026, that 71% of wage and salary workers had access to paid leave in 2024-25, up from 66% in 2017-18. The findings come from the American Time Use Survey’s Leave and Job Flexibilities Module, which asks workers about their sole or main job.
The national increase matters, but the differences among workers are larger. The data frame a workplace-management question as much as a benefits question: staffing coverage, workload, approval practices and the ability to absorb lost income can all shape whether leave is usable in practice.
Access varies sharply by job and work status
Workers in management, business and financial-operations occupations had the highest reported access to paid leave, at 90%. Access was 45% for service workers and 50% for workers in construction and extraction occupations.
Public-sector workers also reported higher access than private-sector workers: 81% compared with 69%. Public-sector access was about 79% in 2017-18, while private-sector access rose from 63% to 69% over the same period.
Work status was another major dividing line. Among single jobholders, 81% of full-time workers had access to paid leave, compared with 32% of part-time workers. Among full-time wage and salary workers with only one job, access reached 91% for those in the highest earnings quartile but was 63% for those in the lowest quartile.
These are broad national comparisons, not estimates that control for every difference in the workers represented in each group. BLS specifically cautions that differences in full-time and part-time composition, among other factors, may help explain some of the gaps.
Work-at-home capability is associated with higher access
Workers who could work at home as part of their job reported paid-leave access at a rate of 86%. The figure was 63% for workers who could not work at home.
The measure does not mean that a worker had a fully remote job, and it does not show that work-at-home capability caused higher leave access. It identifies a substantial association between the ability to work at home and reported access to paid leave.
The BLS measure also differs from the National Compensation Survey’s employer-provided measure of flexible work schedules. The NCS found that 15% of civilian workers had access to a flexible work schedule in March 2025. That figure uses a different definition and should not be treated as interchangeable with the worker-reported ATUS measure.
Some workers need leave but do not take it
Eight percent of wage and salary workers said they needed to take leave during an average month but did not. Among those workers, about 40% needed leave for their own illness or medical care, 24% for a family member’s illness or medical care, and 21% for errands or personal reasons.
The most common stated reason for not taking leave was having too much work, cited by 29% of workers who needed leave but did not take it. Another 14% cited fear of negative employment consequences or a denied request. Thirteen percent said they could not afford the loss of income.
The survey reports workers’ stated reasons; it does not establish that an employer caused someone to skip leave. Still, the findings show how a formal policy can coexist with workload, approval or financial barriers that make time off difficult to use.
What managers and workers should check
Managers evaluating leave practices should look beyond whether a policy appears in a handbook. Questions include whether teams have enough coverage, whether approval standards are consistent, how workloads are reassigned, and whether workers believe taking leave could affect evaluations or future scheduling.
Workers should confirm whether leave is paid, which reasons qualify, how much advance notice is required, whether shift coverage is their responsibility and what protections apply when leave is needed. They should also distinguish access from approval: being able to request leave does not guarantee that a particular request will be approved or that a worker can absorb unpaid time.
The estimates cover wage and salary workers and exclude self-employed workers. For workers with multiple jobs, the measures apply to the job in which they usually work the most hours. Workers may also be unsure whether leave is available until they need it.
Because the federal government shutdown suspended ATUS collection from October 1 through November 12, 2025, the estimates combine a 12-month average for 2024 with an 11-month average for 2025.
BLS’s release schedule lists additional Job Flexibilities and Work Schedules data for 2024-25 on September 24, 2026. The agency’s ATUS modules page describes the related data files as due in late September. Those materials may provide more detail on how schedules and flexibility relate to workers’ ability to use leave.
Sources
Look for updates to this story
Discover more from Interactive News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.