I am out of the office until the 1st November.  I will reply to you as soon as I
can when I get back.

Many thanks

Eva Elliott

>>> SDOH 10/26/04 18:35 >>>

from "Population Health Forum" <[log in to unmask]>

How much does the US support families in comparison to other countries?
Imperceptibly, it would seem, based on this report from the Project on
Global Working Families from Harvard.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/globalworkingfamilies/images/report.pdf
Some details

Areas where the U.S. lags behind
Working conditions
- 163 countries around the world offer guaranteed paid leave to women in
connection with childbirth. The U.S. does not.
- The only other industrialized country which does not have paid maternity
or parental leave for women, Australia, guarantees a full year of unpaid
leave to all women in the country. In contrast, the Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA) in the U.S. provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave to
approximately half of mothers in the U.S. and nothing for the remainder.
- 45 countries ensure that fathers either receive paid paternity leave or
have a right to paid parental leave. The United States guarantees fathers
neither paid paternity nor paid parental leave.
- At least 76 countries protect working womens right to breastfeed; the
U.S. does not, in spite of the fact that breastfeeding has been shown to
reduce infant mortality several-fold.
- In fact, nearly two-thirds of these countries protect breastfeeding for
15 months or longer. Nearly nine out of ten protect this right for at
least a year.
- At least 96 countries around the world in all geographic regions and at
all economic levels mandate paid annual leave. The U.S. does not require
employers to provide paid annual leave.
- At least 37 countries have policies guaranteeing parents some type of
paid leave specifically for when their children are ill. Of these
countries, two-thirds guarantee more than a week of paid leave, and more
than one-third guarantee 11 or more days.
- 139 countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses, with
117 providing a week or more annually. The U.S. provides only unpaid leave
for serious illnesses through the FMLA, which does not cover all workers.
- 40 countries have government-mandated evening and night wage premiums.
The U.S. does not.
- At least 98 countries require employers to provide a mandatory day of
rest: a period of at least 24 hours off each week. The U.S. does not
guarantee workers this weekly break.
- At least 84 countries have laws that fix the maximum length of the work
week. The U.S. does not have a maximum length of the work week or a limit
on mandatory overtime per week.
- 42 countries guarantee leave for major family events; in 37 of these
countries, the leave is paid.
Services for children
- The U.S. is tied with Ecuador and Suriname for 39th in enrollment in
early childhood care and education for 35 year olds. Nearly all European
countries perform better. A wide range of developing and transitioning
countries had higher enrollment rates than the U.S., despite being poorer.
- The U.S. is tied for 91st out of 151 countries in the area of preprimary
student-to-staff ratios.
- In terms of the percentage of GDP spent on early childhood education,
recent data place the U.S. in a seven-way tie for 13th place out of 30
OECD countries. Previous studies of a larger number of countries showed
the United States to be 20th out of 72 countries. The relatively low
percentage of GDP spent is of particular concern, given the low enrollment
and low student-to-staff ratios.
- Fifty-four nations have longer school years than the U.S. Twenty of
these countries have a school year which is more than 20 days longer than
that of the U.S., adding practically a full month to the school calendar.
Areas where the U.S. holds even
In sharp contrast to the above areas, U.S. policy does well in
guaranteeing rights to attend school and the right to work. The U.S. has
done more to provide supports for the elderly than for the young.
Right to school and to work
- The U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) is a broad piece of
legislation ensuring the rights of children with special needs in
education.
- The U.S. and at least 63 other countries have antidiscrimination
legislation that protects the rights of the disabled in employment. The
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits discrimination both on
the job and in public services.
- The U.S. is among at least 48 nations which prohibit discrimination in
employment or pay based on age. Its Age Discrimination in Employment Act
(1967) is aimed at preventing age discrimination in hiring, promotion,
termination, compensation, and working conditions.
Services and income to the elderly
- An estimated 96 percent of the U.S. workforce is eligible for pensions
through the Social Security administration. However, these pensions are
not always sufficient to lift the elderly out of poverty and to cover
their out-of-pocket health care costs.

Check out the figures in the report, especially 3 on duration of parental
leave, 4 on breastfeeding breaks, 6 on preprimary enrollment, 7 on GDP
spent on preprimary education, 8 on duration of paid annual leave.

Such fodder!

 STephen

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