In today’s workplaces, every worker can feel the strains of everyday life. For young people—who statistically struggle the most with their mental health—access to mental health supports, such as time to care for themselves or a loved one, can help keep them attached to both their work and home life. Paid leave, including paid family and medical leave and paid sick time, is a proven solution to addressing mental health needs in the workplace.
Young Workers Face Heightened Mental Health Challenges
- Generation Z, or those born between 1997-2012, are infamously known to face heightened mental health struggles. Data from 2022 shows that young adults aged 18-25 years had the highest prevalence of mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders (36.2%) compared to adults aged 26-49 years (29.4%) and aged 50 and older (13.9%).
- In a survey of 1,005 young professionals between the ages of 22-28 with at least a bachelor’s degree, more than half (51%) reported needing help for emotional or mental health problems in the past year.
- For Opportunity Youth, who are categorized as young people aged 16-24 who are neither working nor in school due to systemic factors, they reported experiencing depression and other mental health disorders at a rate 3 times higher than their connected peers.
- With Gen Z projected to make up 31% of the workforce by 2031, their need for workplaces that prioritize mental well-being requires a reshaping of work culture.
Paid Leave Policies Can Help Young Workers
- Paid sick time can keep young workers connected to the workforce and give them the time needed to address their mental health needs.
- In recent years, workers aged 25 to 34 were more likely to have taken sick leave than older colleagues, with the driving factor being a need to address their mental health.
- Inadequate employee mental health support adds indirect costs, like reduced productivity and habitual absences. In 2010, “costs incurred from absenteeism and presenteeism were estimated to be $1.7 trillion annually and direct costs added an additional $0.8 trillion, with these costs expected to double by 2030,” which illustrate the global cost of poor mental health.
- The effects of major depressive disorder alone bring economic costs of more than $300 billion, more than half of which (61 percent) come from workplace costs. With increased access to paid sick time, workers would have the ability to take the time they need to address their mental health needs, and reduce long term costs for employers.
- Access to paid medical leave can also address maternal mental health conditions, and promote safer pregnancy outcomes. Notably, 23% of pregnancy-related maternal deaths happen during the postpartum period, with mental health conditions as the leading underlying cause of death. These mental health challenges are often exacerbated by financial strain, limited postpartum support, and the pressure to return to work soon after childbirth.
- The absence of paid family leave in the U.S. compounds these stressors, heightening the risk of poor mental health outcomes for both mothers and their children. Paid family and medical leave programs can reduce stress and anxiety, promote physical and mental recovery, enhance work life balance, and strengthen family bonds.
Young Workers Need Access to Paid Leave in America
- Currently, 27 million Americans do not have access to even a single day of paid sick leave a year. Across the country, 10,324,700 young workers aged 16-24, work in states that do not guarantee paid sick time and stop localities from setting their own paid sick time laws (about 45% of the labor force).
- Historically, young workers are overrepresented in part-time positions and industries that are the least likely to provide paid sick leave. In fact, only 55% of part-time positions have access to paid sick time policies.
- In 2024, 5.5 million workers aged 16-24 worked in leisure, hospitality, and retail. As state and local wins have increased access to paid sick days for workers in sales and related industries (70%), national and state progress is needed to continue to support young workers in all industries as they navigate their mental health.
- Moreso, young adults aged 18-34 have lower rates of access to leave for their own illness or medical care, and for the illness or medical care of a family member: about 57% report having paid medical leave for personal needs, and about 43% report having leave for a family member’s care.
- In a 2025 study, young workers noted how a lack of paid leave negatively impacts their mental health. Those surveyed reported a desire for workplace solutions that prioritize mental health, including policies like paid family and medical leave and paid sick time.
A national right to paid leave would ensure that all workers can take the time they need to address their mental health needs. Not only would paid leave provide critical support for those managing their mental health, it would result in increased productivity and stronger engagement in the workplace. Federal paid family and medical leave and paid sick time are practical policy solutions that can help support young workers’ mental health.