Opinion: Pass Build Back Better plan and make sure it includes paid leave

Ohio families, workers, and businesses need President Biden’s full Build Back Better agenda. It would lower the cost of prescription drugs, expand Medicare, establish universal Pre-K, provide tax breaks for clean energy, and expand the Child Tax Credit. It would even cut taxes for 50 million families and 4 million small businesses. The benefits are seemingly endless.

One of the most crucial pieces of the president’s plan, though, is that it would provide several weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers. 

Last year, millions of Americans became sick with COVID-19, including over 808,000 Ohioans. Many schools switched to online learning, and daycares either closed or drastically increased prices. Millions of parents – especially moms – ended up leaving their jobs to care for children, parents and other loved ones. 

Ohio was not spared. At the end of 2020, 3,000 workers had left Ohio’s workforce, and Ohio women were unemployed at more than four times the rate of the year before.

Now, as the world reopens, parents are still struggling to return to work. COVID outbreaks in schools and daycares regularly force children to quarantine at home, and the virus continues to spread, creating an impossible situation for many families. 

This problem isn’t new. The pandemic simply highlighted an existing crisis. Every year, too many hardworking Americans are forced to choose between paying bills and caring for their families. This pattern is unsustainable. Even before the pandemic, workers and their families lost $22.5 billion every year due to a lack of paid leave. 

This crisis hits women – especially women of color – the hardest. In Ohio, 84% of Black mothers, 57% of Latina mothers, and 51% of white mothers are key breadwinners for their families.

Without stability at home, Ohioans will not be as productive or consistent at work. Paid leave would not only support Ohio’s working families, it would increase productivity, boost employee morale, and strengthen our economy.

The rest of the industrialized world has already figured this out. In fact, the United States is one of the only countries on Earth that does not guarantee any paid leave. 

The only national policy America offers is FMLA, which is unpaid leave. But even that program is inaccessible to over 60% of Ohioans, due to heavy restrictions and the fact that few workers can afford to live without a steady paycheck. 

We already know paid leave would strengthen Ohio’s economy. One recent study showed that California’s paid leave law increased new mothers’ odds of working a year after giving birth by 18%. We also know the U.S. economy would receive a massive boost if American women could work at the same rates as women in countries with paid leave. Additional research has found that paid leave policies lead to better maternal physical health, lower infant mortality and improved childhood development. 

All of this enhances work performance and productivity, which supports businesses and workers alike.

As if we needed more reasons to pass paid leave through reconciliation, it’s also incredibly popular. One poll found that 84% of swing state voters, including 74% of Republicans, support paid leave.

Two-thirds of small business owners support national paid leave as well. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees would be eligible for grants to help cover the cost. Plus, President Biden’s plan would help employers pay for existing leave programs. The president’s plan respects and values American businesses.

We even know how to pay for the Build Back Better agenda – by making sure the richest 2% and corporations pay their fair share. Every American would benefit, but no one making under $400,000 per year would see their taxes go up.

Bottom line: There is no excuse to fail America’s working families for another minute.

Contact your member of Congress. Tell them to pass President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda – and make sure it includes paid leave.

Desiree Tims is president and CEO of Innovation Ohio. Nicole Armstrong is founder and CEO of Queen City Certified.