By Jason Coates, Public Policy Associate
One of the National Hispanic Council on Aging’s (NHCOA) biggest priorities is empowering people to enter old age with economic security. These goals have become more difficult in recent years, as middle class households have seen their incomes decline. Further, since the financial crisis in 2008, the U.S. economy has lost middle income jobs. Making matters worse, the largest job gains have come in the form of lower wage occupations, which are more likely to lack paid sick leave. These two factors – the replacement of middle wage jobs with low wage jobs and the tendency of low wage work to lack the benefit of paid sick days – means that the time is ripe for federal, state and local governments to enact policies that enable working people attain economic security.
NHCOA supports efforts to pass paid sick and family leave laws. By allowing people to earn paid time off to recover from an illness or care for a loved one, these policies help maintain the economic security of Hispanic families and communities. The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993, but no other federal sick and family leave laws have been enacted since. A lot has happened since 1993, however. The country is becoming older, as the Baby Boomer birth cohort turns 65. Family caregiving is becoming common, as well, as there are over 40 million people who care for another adult over the age of 50.
Demographic, health and economic changes need to be met by responses in policy. Paid sick days laws in Connecticut, New York City and San Francisco, and family and medical leave laws in California and New Jersey are policies that support the economic security of working people. NHCOA supports the Healthy Families Act, a national paid sick days law, and the FAMILY Act, a national law which would provide paid family and medical leave. These laws will improve the quality of jobs, enhance economic security, allow people to recover from illness and keep illnesses from spreading. NHCOA looks forward to a time when all workers will have access to paid sick days and paid family and medical leave.
