Does paid sick leave encourage staying at home? Evidence from the United States during a pandemic

Abstract

We study the impact of a temporary U.S. paid sick leave mandate that became effective April 1st, 2020 on self-quarantining, proxied by physical mobility behaviors gleaned from cellular devices. We study this policy using generalized difference-in-differences methods, leveraging pre-policy county-level heterogeneity in the share of workers likely eligible for paid sick leave benefits. We find that the policy leads to increased self-quarantining as proxied by staying home. We also find that COVID-19 confirmed cases decline post-policy.

Keywords: infectious disease spread; paid sick leave; pandemic disease; physical mobility.