The U.S. sees an increase in population every year. In 2023 alone, 3.7 million babies were born. Statistics like these leave me wondering — can all these people afford to have so many babies?
The harsh yet truthful answer is often no. With many people working a traditional 9-5 job, the average maternity leave is only 10 weeks — and it is often unpaid.
In the U.S., having a baby costs an average of $18,865 without insurance — including pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care in a hospital. The average cost with insurance is $2,854, which includes insurance deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Parents losing out on a paycheck for often three months, on top of these expenses, is a lot to take on.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Family and Medical Leave Act protects a 12-week unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth of a child or adoption/foster care for both mothers and fathers. However, this only applies to public agencies and companies with 50 or more employees.
Employees are only legally eligible for this leave if they have worked for the company for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours within those 12 months. Additionally, if emergency days are called off due to pregnancy complications, those days can be held against those 12 weeks.
Many families simply cannot afford to take 12 weeks off without getting a paycheck, and with the birth of a new baby, many bills come up. Some families will have to pay off the medical bills from having their baby, pay for new health insurance, pay for daycare services and many more services to follow in the future.
Compared to countries in Europe, the U.S. is far behind in terms of post-pregnancy rights. In Europe, it is considered a right to have a paid maternity leave. There, mothers have a minimum of 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, two of which are mandatory, and are paid at minimum the national sick pay. Some countries in Europe are even more generous — offering 58 weeks of paid maternity leave. In the U.S., fathers are entitled to the same 12-week unpaid leave. In Europe, paternity leave ranges from a few days to the same length as maternity leave.
It is shameful that the U.S. government has such little regard for working parents. Giving birth to a baby is taxing enough — should parents not be allowed to recuperate and spend time with their kids? When parents’ 12-week leave comes to an end, now they have to question who will care for their child while they work.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2015 and 2017, households with one full-time and one part-time parent was 14% and households with both parents being full-time was 52%. As inflation continues to be an issue, the percentage of households with two full-time parents has gone up an unimaginable amount.
When parents go to work to make ends meet, they have to either have a family member take care of their baby, or send their baby to daycare.
It has become nearly impossible to have a kid without having to rely on others to help care for them — whether it is putting their baby in the hands of an employee at a daycare facility or having their parents care for them. The average person living in the U.S. likely will not see their kid until they get off a long day of work.
