Benefit-cost Analysis of a Paid Family and Medical Leave Program in West Virginia

Please note: This analysis was conducted by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development in partnership with The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Introduction

Paid family and medical leave policies are proven to strengthen families’ economic security, support the health and wellbeing of children and parents, improve mothers’ labor force participation, and reduce instances of infant mortality, all while remaining budget neutral to the state.

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West Virginia does not currently have a statewide paid family and medical leave policy. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University partnered with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy to assess the implications of adopting a proposed paid family and medical leave policy.

The proposed policy would provide all eligible parents with up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a new child following birth, adoption, or foster care placement. Eligible parents would receive 90% of any wages below 50% of the state average weekly wage, plus 67% of any remaining wages. The maximum weekly benefit would be capped at the state average weekly wage, which is $1,067 as of September 2025. The program would be funded through payroll contributions from employers and employees, at no additional cost to the state.

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Key Findings

1. Enacting a paid family and medical leave program is budget neutral.
2. Each year, bonding leave would result in a net benefit of $27 million to families, employers, and the state government, outweighing costs by 8.6 to 1.
3. Employees would receive a double–or more–return on their investment by contributing to the paid family and medical leave program.
4. Adopting a paid family and medical leave program would increase the minimum resources available to working families by $4,776 in the year their child is born.

Conclusion

Our analysis, which builds on a substantial body of rigorous causal research, suggests that the adoption of a paid family and medical leave program could have far-reaching positive implications for families with young children at no ongoing cost to West Virginia’s General Revenue Fund. Bonding leave will lead to economic benefits for employers, workers, and the state of West Virginia, maternal and infant lives saved, and improved health and development across the lifespan of families.

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READ THE TWO-PAGE SUMMARY.