U.S. Lags Behind Rest of the World on Parental Leave Laws

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Looking to start a family soon? You may want to try to get a job abroad first.

While the governments of many developed countries mandate at least some paid parental leave, the U.S. has no such laws at the national level. A new interactive map from global mobility company CapRelo  starkly highlights the disparity between the rights of U.S. workers and those in similar nations, with the U.S. clocking in at the absolute bottom end of the spectrum out of the countries represented here.

(For the record, some individual states do guarantee paid parental leave of some kind.)

That’s not to say things are perfect outside our borders. Paid maternity leave is guaranteed in a number of countries, but paid paternity leave is less common. Furthermore, those countries that do guarantee paid paternity leave often give fathers less time off than mothers.

Explore global parental leave laws for yourself via CapRelo’s map below:

By Matthew Kosinski