It’s got to make you wonder. Why is the United States one of the only industrialized nations without mandated paid sick time for workers?

We’re in good company I suppose. Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland don’t have it either.

Only about half of all U.S workers in the private sector even get paid sick time, and the numbers are declining. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics only 57 percent of private employers offer workers paid sick time, down from 59 percent in 2004.

The reasoning you often hear for not mandating such a benefit is it will cost our businesses and our nation as a whole too much money, and some say it wouldn’t really help workers that much.

But if it were the law of the land who would benefit? (more…)