“The enrollment of paid family leave is increasing for both fathers and mothers, and parents are more likely to take paid family leave when a mandatory paid family leave policy is available,” reads an October 2025 report by Andrea Hall and Slawa Rokicki, two researchers at the New Jersey State Policy Lab at Rutgers University.
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Andrea Hall
NJSPL: Increasing Enrollment of Paid Family Leave
Over the last decade, many states have implemented some form of mandatory paid family leave policies to help address the lack of coverage at the national level. Researchers have been examining data related to paid family leave enrollment, and found that overall enrollment for paid leave increased for both mothers and fathers between 2000 and 2024 in the U.S., from 29% to 58% for fathers and 47% to 54% for mothers.