Dive Brief:

• Oregon's state House passed a bill that would require most employers to offer five days of paid sick leave to their employees. Governor Kate Brown is expected to sign the bill, making Oregon the fourth state to enact such a law.
• Oregon's bill applies to businesses with 10 or more employees and allows workers to accrue an hour of sick time for every 30 they work. The leave could be used to care for a worker herself or a family member, or donated to a coworker, according to ThinkProgress.org.
• An estimated 47% of workers in the state don't have access to paid sick days, including more than 70% of low-wage workers.

Dive Insight:

There is no country-wide requirement that employees have access to paid sick leave, unlike all other developed countries, reports ThinkProgress, leaving about 40% of the U.S. workforce without the ability to take a paid day off if they get sick. And among those who do get the benefit, the trend has been toward offering fewer days.

President Barack Obama has mentioned national paid sick leave, but so far it has no traction in Congress. States and municipalities who do offer paid sick leave are acting as testing grounds for whether mandating the benefit hurts or helps local businesses.

So far, the article says, the evidence points to either no effect or a business boost. For example, new data from Connecticut shows that since its law took effect in 2012, job growth in leisure and hospitality, the industries most impacted by it, has been stronger than it was in previous years.