The Capability Approach, a concept introduced in our previous column (“The quest for well-being in turbulent times,” Jan. 19), centers on well-being: of living a life of value. As a powerful framework used to guide and measure the development and impact of public policy, its force is focused on quality of life and the ability of the individual and the collective to withstand risk and sustain resilience. Importantly, it brings greater attention and recognition to the fact that fair allocations lead to shared prosperity.

The process of instituting paid family leave in Maine illustrates the critical importance of centering well-being in public policy making for the times in which we live.

Proposals for a new form of social insurance — paid family leave — have been stimulated by new and formidable challenges facing modern American families. As working individuals and families struggle to meet ever-changing family and work obligations, they are more often doing it in concert with the additional demands of caring for aging family members, a new baby or a sick child, a spouse or other kin. This can not only place undue strain on their ability to meet these obligations but also on their ability to maintain their own financial security. For employers, losing and replacing highly productive workers disrupts the workplace, impacts revenues and creates expensive turnover costs in tight labor markets.

European employers have long recognized that granting employees paid leave during these challenging times is an essential capability for maintaining an effective workforce.

Over the past few years in Maine, advocacy for paid family leave has had the force of an array of organizations and associations behind it. Legislative authorization set up a study commission, the Maine Commission to Develop a Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Program, which has now released its final report including recommendations for a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program.

Social activists worked tirelessly to bring this proposal forward. But the passage of paid family leave legislation will also require the support of the business community to succeed. Its passage will likely run head-on into resistance from employer organizations arguing that it will add higher costs and disrupt business operations.

Some businesses, however, have already adopted paid family leave as an essential complement to worker protections including retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, paid vacation and holidays and sick time. These businesses have recognized that to remain competitive in today’s labor market, their compensation and benefits packages must be responsive to worker needs. They offer a model to others intent on also adopting well-being as a central benefit to employees.

Why is this important? Now, only a minority of workers enjoy consistent access to and coverage for the array of benefits essential to workers, and to business sustainability and continued productivity. Today, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, 79% of workers have access to paid sick leave whereas only 23% of civilian workers have access to paid family leave. Recent data from the Economic Policy Institute show that 94% of the highest-paid workers do have paid leave while over 60% of low-wage workers do not. Those in the middle class fare better than their low-wage peers but only if they are full time. At present, 77% of Mainers do not have access to paid family leave.

The enactment of a paid family leave policy is an integral part of a modernized employee compensation and benefits system and will contribute to reversing troubling long-term trends of income inequality driven by the erosion of real income for American workers. paid family leave costs under the social insurance framework will be distributed across businesses and workers. Government subsidies and support will be required for small businesses that will be most challenged in making the transition to paid family leave.

Among the advanced industrial nations, the United States stands out as having the least paid time off for its workers. At the same time, we stand out as having the highest level of income inequality and the largest earnings disparity between front-line workers and executives. Even throughout this troubling inflationary period, where workers’ real earnings eroded, corporate profits often showed upswings at record levels.

These distributional inequities have contributed to the growing schism in our society and beg for remedies such as those proposed in the expansion of social insurance policies to paid family leave.

We look forward to the legislature and the governor endorsing, without reservation, this essential and timely expansion of social insurance for workers as the state moves to securing well-being, greater equality, and this critical capability for all Maine workers.

John Dorrer, a labor market economist, is the former director of the Center for Workforce Research and Information at the Maine Department of Labor. Luisa S. Deprez is Professor Emerita of Sociology and the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. They are members of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members’ columns appear monthly.

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