{"id":57106,"date":"2015-04-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-scholar-student-study-states-temporary-caregiver-insurance-program\/"},"modified":"2015-04-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T00:00:00","slug":"uri-scholar-student-study-states-temporary-caregiver-insurance-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/uri-scholar-student-study-states-temporary-caregiver-insurance-program\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 scholar, student study state\u2019s temporary caregiver insurance program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 30, 2015 \u2013 A state program that helps workers care for sick relatives, newborns and adopted children has been a hot topic in Rhode Island and beyond, and now a 溏心vlog免费B站 scholar is weighing in on the issue.<\/p>\n


\nA study by Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, an associate professor of political science at 溏心vlog免费B站, found that while the program is likely to help the Rhode Island economy, there are ways to improve it. The study found that low-income workers contribute more of their salaries to the program, but may be using it less than high-income workers.<\/p>\n


\nRhode Island is one of only a handful of states to offer temporary caregiver insurance, signed into law last year. Pearson-Merkowitz and her student, Rachel-Lyn Longo, examined programs in California and New Jersey, as well as Rhode Island.<\/p>\n


\nRhode Island\u2019s program provides job protection and up to four weeks of benefits to workers to care for a sick relative or domestic partner or bond with a newborn child, adopted child or foster child. It is paid for through an employee payroll tax.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhile having workers fund the program makes sense,\u201d says Pearson-Merkowitz, \u201cthe particular structure of the employee contribution system is, in practice, regressive, in that it places a greater burden on low- and middle-income workers.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nThe program, she says, is funded through a fixed tax rate applied to a worker\u2019s taxable earnings up to a specific income, above which the tax is no longer applied. The combination of a flat tax rate and an income cap means \u201clow- and middle-income workers end up paying a greater percentage of their earnings to fund the program than high-income workers.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPearson-Merkowitz says data she examined from California shows that low-income workers are less likely to use the program. \u201cThe data suggest that paid family leave is drastically underutilized by those who need it most \u2013 the working poor.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThat could be because lower-wage workers don\u2019t know about the program, she says, or are unaware that they pay into it. She says a more troubling problem is that many low-income workers might not be able to afford to take a leave, even when they can get the temporary benefit.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cFor Rhode Island families already living in poverty, losing a third of their income may simply leave them with too little to make ends meet,\u201d says Pearson-Merkowitz. \u201cMost likely, workers like these simply cannot afford to take time off, even with the wage replacement provided by paid family leave.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe solution, she suggests, is to continue to build on efforts by the Department of Labor and Training to ensure that workers from all economic backgrounds and in all industries know about the program, as well as the job protection it provides. <\/p>\n


\nThe state should also consider adopting a more \u201cprogressive wage replacement system\u201d to ensure that lower-wage workers who take paid family leave don’t fall into poverty while caring for a sick child, spouse or parent.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cGiven that low- and middle-wage workers are those who both need paid family leave the most and who pay the largest portion of their salary into the program, it is essential that these workers can afford to take advantage of it,\u201d says Pearson-Merkowitz. \u201cEnsuring all workers have access to paid family leave could also be a smart economic move for the state. It could keep people employed and reduce social service reliance during times of family crisis, and lead to higher earnings, and thus more tax revenue in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn fact, Pearson-Merkowitz says California families using the program report better social, economic and physical health than those with a new child or sick relative who did not take advantage of the program. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cReceiving care from family members has been shown to drastically improve health outcomes and recovery from illness, especially among children and the elderly,\u201d she says. \u201cStudies also show that mothers who take paid leave to care for a newborn breastfeed for twice as long.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPaid family leave also improves the economy, says Pearson-Merkowitz. Studies show that women who take leave after childbirth are more likely to keep their jobs, which translates into more taxes for the state, a better economy and fewer people relying on state services. <\/p>\n


\nResearch also suggests that businesses in California and New Jersey are generally happy with paid family leave, Pearson-Merkowitz says. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cSome employers in New Jersey witnessed improved worker morale,\u201d she says. \u201cEmployers also applaud paid family leave as a cost-saving measure because it reduces employee turnover, saving employers from hiring and training replacement workers.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe study was funded by the College and University Research Collaborative, a partnership of the state\u2019s 11 colleges and universities that connects public policy and academic research. One of the organization\u2019s goals is to increase non-partisan research and policymaking.<\/p>\n


\nLongo, who graduated from 溏心vlog免费B站 last year, worked on the study with Pearson-Merkowitz for her senior honor\u2019s thesis. So far, the collaborative has awarded about $100,000 in research grants.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is just one example of the excellent work being done across Rhode Island\u2019s higher education institutions through the collaborative,\u201d says Katharine Flynn, 溏心vlog免费B站 collaborative fellow and executive director of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Business Engagement Center. \u201c溏心vlog免费B站 is thrilled to be part of this great initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cProfessor Pearson-Merkowitz\u2019s research is not just an issue of importance to Rhode Islanders, but also to those at the national level,\u201d says Amber Caulkins, program director of the collaborative. \u201cHaving students participate in research like this is a great way to connect students to Rhode Island and see how they can participate in important policy challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor more information about the study, visit Collaborative.<\/a> <\/p>\n


\n\tPictured above: Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, an associate professor of political science at the 溏心vlog免费B站. Photo courtesy of the College and University Research Collaborative.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 30, 2015 \u2013 A state program that helps workers care for sick relatives, newborns and adopted children has been a hot topic in Rhode Island and beyond, and now a 溏心vlog免费B站 scholar is weighing in on the issue. A study by Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, an associate professor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}