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Men file majority of paid family leave claims in some states as programs expand

Confirmed1 source · Oct 18, 2026

In states with paid parental leave programs, fathers are now claiming more benefits than mothers, a shift in a country with no federal guarantee of paid leave.

Men file majority of paid family leave claims in some states as programs expand
Image via NPR

What happened

Men are filing the majority of paid family leave claims in certain states with their own programs. This represents a change in who is using these benefits to bond with newborns, with fathers now exceeding mothers in some jurisdictions.

Context

The United States lacks a federal law guaranteeing paid parental leave. States with their own paid family leave programs are seeing increased uptake by fathers, suggesting that when such benefits are available, men are accessing them at higher rates than previously observed. This pattern indicates that infrastructure enabling parental leave may influence how both parents distribute childcare responsibilities.