strong advocate for diversity in la. >> i'm antonio mora thank you for joining us. you can head over to aljazeera.com. ray suarez is up next with nd. have a great night. [ ♪♪ ] when only 12% of american workers get paid parental leaf it's a head-scratcher. left to businesses and states to make their open policies america is far behind the rest of the world's economic leaders. so have american companies failed young families has the time come for mandated paid family leave.

it's "inside story". welcome to "inside story", i'm adam may filling in for ray suarez. america comes in nearly last place when it comes to family leave benefits. the issue has not been tackled in more than two decade. back when the family and medical leave act was signed into law, there was $58 million women in the labour force. it's grown to 72 million, and more and more men are choosing to stay at home to bond with their new children as america's workforce evolved, in one respect america's laws have next

the u.s. is the only industrialized country that does not mandate paid parental leave. >> we look bad. we and papua new guinea are the only two countries that don't offer paid pat earnty for mat erpy leave, that's inexcusable in a country as wealthy as we are. >> the u.k. grants 39 weeks of paid leave, two of which is mandatory. australia offers 18 weeks, and mexico gives 12 weeks of paid leaf at 100% of their salary. >> without the paid time there's so much pressure on families and so much difficulty for women who want to return to the work place, but not before they are ready. >> the federal government provide protections through the family and medical leave act in 1993. workers can take 12 week the parental leave without losing

their job. the catch is the leave is unpaid. >> people in the lower economic bracket can't afford to take that lead. it protectsour job, you can come back it will be there. >> employers have the option to provide it on their own, not all do. 12% of americans have access to this benefit. with little central action taking place, the only momentum has been at the state level. california rhode island and new jersey are the only states to enact laws. >> that's the fight we must wage. >> presidential hopeful hillary clinton made family leave a core issue of her campaign. >> at a time that should be so exciting and joyful i see so many women who are just distraught. they have to immediately go back to work. >> reporter: none of the major presidential candidates in the republican party made pat

maternity leave. >> 50% of the workforce is female, there are families that need this. both parents need to be working, both want to be working and want to have children and take care of them a growing number of u.s. companies are not waiting for new laws they are taking action on their own, some offering european-like family leave benefit. recently nestle announced it will offer 14 weeks of paid leave for employees who are the primary caregivers in the family. and tech companies like google and facebook offering four months paid to new mothers. business consulting giant kpmg was a pioneer, offering paid m maternity leave in 2000. they are listed as one of the best for maternity benefits. barbara from kpmg director of

workplace solutions - thank you for joining us on inside story. if you would, start by painting a picture for me. what is it like for a female employee at your company once they give birth. what sort of benefits are granted? >> it's so good to be here. we have a young workforce and are excited when someone tells us that they are aspecting a child -- expecting a child and growing their family. our people get a lot of benefits. a woman giving birth can receive up to 18 weeks of leave. that's a combination of the short-term disability policy as well as maternity and parental leave in combination. often our employees take extended leave using our

generous paid time off policy in combination. they cap get aon guaranteed leave for up to 26 weeks to stay home with that new child. >> you have 27,000 employees in the u.s. offering female workers 18 weeks paid leave must be extensive, and you extend the benefit to men for parental love. what are they offered? >> our men that are primary care givers get six weeks of paid parental leave at 100%. why the difference between men and women. >> there's no difference. the difference is in the disability portions that women have gone through the birth of a child and need time to recough. and the men and women as primary care givers get the 6 weeks

benefit. >> there are detractors to this. >> we tipit's... >> there are people opposed to paid maternity leave. some raised questions that in the long run it could make whim i'm more expensive. you are a consulting firm you crunched the numbers, what did you find? >> well we don't believe that at all. we hire 50% women in entry level professional women. we invest in them train them, give them the experience and we want to retain them. when they are experiencing this major mile stop in their lives, we want to support them. and give them the time they need so that they feel comfortable coming back and being re-engaging in their career and wanting to stay with us for the long term. >> so you see the numbers playing out. you see this helps with your

retention rate. >> absolutely. the more we can to to support employees and provide an environment where they can thrive and feel satisfied professionally and personally the better our retention is of all of our employees. >> what do you think about the benefits extended to some in european countries, could american businesses handle getting 39 weeks of paid leave. could we handle that with our economy. >> well i don't know. i'm not an economist. it would be hard for me to comment transferring european policy. we know that is the kpmg it makes sense to support our employees, and provide benefits they need so they feel good about working for us. and it does turn around into higher moral, we have seen that in our employee surveys, when we ask about engagement. we see that in our result and our productivity and our ability

to serve our clients much. >> the numbers are interim. we were talking one in eight people are offered paid leave in this country, when we talk about women a lot of people say in order for there to be federal legislation, for this issue to get cheels major companies have to get behind it. does kpmg favour legislation or do they believe the free market is taking kaur of this issue on their own? i can't speak to a federal mandate. we know that it's beneficial for us. and i think every company needs to evaluate that for themselves. >> why don't you think more companies are doing what you are doing? why not? >> again, it's hard for me to speak to other companies. we have been going this for so long, that we had a chance to

see the results. we see the impact it has on our employees, we see the retention numbers, satisfaction numbers and the ability to grow our business and to meet our business responsibilities. >> you are in the business of vising major companies across the country what to do and sometimes on human resources, do you advisour clients to offer paid leave? >> i think we look at that as one option but there's no banct solution for every one of our clients. >> especially an issue as touchy as this that has been sitting on the backburner for so long. barbara, thank you so much when we return since 2006 the birth rate. the united states decreased by 9% while the recession played its roles, could obstacles to having kids and starting a family be a reason why,

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welcome back to "inside story", i'm adam may, filling in for luis suarez. 2014 represented the sixth year in a row that the birth rate in america declined. on average the number of babies born is 1.86, below the 2.1 needed for a stable population. perhaps one way to reverse the trend it to make starting a family or having another child more tonne duesive. we are -- conducive. we are joined by libs peters. from the urban stoout. and horace cooper a fellow at the public policy research center. do you think that this country has the will to move sfad

forward and enable to live. >> i don't know that the country has the will. i know a discussion is happening. there seems to be movement with the states adopting paid family leave, and the conversation really turning to making the business case. it's happening. >> so california now have had the law on the books for a number of years, looking to expand the benefits the conversation is starting hillary clinton brought it up on the campaign trial. we are not hearing anything from the republican candidates. should we talk about this issue? >> we should talking about if but not in the context of this is something we need to do. we should talk about what are we doing to encourage growth and job creation. in the state of texas we see migration from companies league

california to go to texas. people talk about protections, there's a difference between the protections an employee earns and has. >> that is the concern that is raised when they talk about issues a mandate, and that is that the jobs will pick up. they'll flee. people will run out of the state and texas is picking up companies, there's a lot ofs doing business in california is it good for companies. >> we heard from kpmg that there's better rates. >> if it's good a company can look at the facts, have a conversation with their own employees, and make that determination, i have to problem if app employer decides that a great way to retain employees for a long term is to take this on. i have a problem if that turns

out not to be cost effective, for an employer telling them to do it anyway. >> you have a problem with the mandate. it's been 20 years. if you look back at some of the articles written, people thought more companies would be extending paid leave than have. we are talking - that is a benefit extended to 12-6% of the workforce. >> we should talk about it. it's clear other countries have it. the conversation needs to talk about more than just job creation, it needs to talk about families, and we know that dads are important for kids mums are important for kids and spending time quality time with kids is really important for their long-term development. that needs to be brought into the equation. >> the question remains, should there be a federal mandate, should we shaken the laws and

saying you have to offer paid leave. is the free market way of doing things failing in this case? >> i guess i don't want to answer the question should because there are balances. there are costs and benefits to this. there'll be potential costs to some businesses but i think we need to bring the family into the equation and i don't think we have done enough studies to know all the potential unintended consequences, but we have a lot of examples of cases where it as worked. so i think we need to have that conversation, and maybe do a little more better understanding of what might be the potential downside because we need to think about that before mandating it. >> i conquer with the idea that we want to think about it but we want to look carefully at the data. when we say it's 12% of the

population, what we are not hooking at is the reality since the great recession. 70% of new jobs were created in small business with one particular component of interest. that is this freelance, independent contractor and the market may be letting people in those settings set their own schedules, and accommodating some requirements that they have in a way that if we assume we'll work for ibm or g.m. with the structured schedule the market is probably coming up with solution the. >> there's no question there's disparity on who is getting the benefit of paid leave. you have to be a full-time employees, and working at a big company like you are mentioning. it raises the question should we consider a tax increase when you look at what they are doing in europe. a lot of times family medical

leave fans are funded through social security. it's paid for in tax dollars, the burden is not on the company. should we talk about a tax so people get the benefit. >> yes, i think the conversation needs to happen. >> we had the conversation now. should we do that. is everyone looking at that. >> i don't know that we know the exact solution. we know that it's important for workers to have the flexibility to take time off, to care for sick children other dependents that's really critical for the functioning of the family. how we make that happen i think, is likely to be a combination of private market and a mandated law. we have not actually had the conversation enough to figure

out of what are the compoints. where do we start this conversation, does it need to come from the campaign trail. should is come up. do we need to raise it to that level so we have a serious conversation. are we settling for the fact that there are many women out there giving birth and have to go back because they can't afford the flma. >> the american people cannes afford the tax. oath you'll find a significant lack of interest this that. i want to address the issue about part of time workers, i'm talking about people who do it as a freelancer but they are not employees and come in and

cover consulting services. a number of small businesses look like those organizations and they have a lot more control over their schedule. >> last thoughts from each of you guys what would you ask guys to consider as we talk about this? i would ask people think about the family and his role in raising children and the difficulties they have. >> same thing, we need the conversation, but also the idea of mum and dad both have responsibility to provide for those kids. what are we doing to create an patient that do that well. >> both of you guys the national centre for public policy research thank you for joining us and starting the conversation now.

when you return we'll turn the page and focus on paid leave in the inner city and why it is underutilised among african-american men. we'll talk about the family that is coming

welcome back to "inside story", we have been taking a look at paid maternity and paternity lee. america is one of the only countries in the world that doesn't offer new mothers and fathers paid time off. in fact, for us fathers, mostly we are all on the same boat only a handful of countries across the world offering new dads paid leave. here in the u.s. the law only offers unpaid time off. our next guest is joe jones, the founder of the center for urban families up in baltimore. first off, you are a big propon

pond of paid paternity leave. tell me about why, what does it do for families. >> first when you think about the ability of parents to spend time with their children during the earliest developmental ears it's critical particularly in communities where the disparities that exist, you know dramatic in terms of economic disparities and other associated with urban poverty, and the more that we focus on building families and getting dads more engaged in development and caring and nurturing of children, the better off as a society. >> you bring up a great point. it was a few weeks ago that the mayor spoke about the breakdown of the family and the need to get men in the city more involved with families thinking it would help with some of the son-in-law and crime volumes. i have to ask if the men are not

offered pawed paternity leave, do they start on one foot out of the gate, not able to be there, if they have to go back to work right away. >> you know so many of the men in the communities like baltimore, for the employment they are able to get, because of the circumstances surrounding their lives, they often have to take jobs that don't pay any kind of benefits and if they decide they want to stay home and be part of the care giving partnership with the person they had a child with. it makes it economically more difficult to do so because their wages are depressed from the beginning because of entry level wages, and you don't have benefits, you have to make a strong economic decision that you want to stay home and spend time with your partner and child in the early developmental years. they are hard economic choices where resources are limited.

>> the debate centers around two things should the government force private companies to offer paid leave or do we leave it to the free market after all there are some companies offering paid leave to employees. as we look at the numbers, it looks as if the part-time workers, folks that don't work at the bigger companies, they don't qualify for this. is the free market handling this wore is it time for a mandate. >> we costly see a movement towards more companies, particularly corporate companies making and taking the lead on providing paid maternity family medical leave and in this case talking about paternity leave. in terms of mandates one of the things we might want to do is put this in certain communities to test whether the benefit it will yield is the true benefit. i don't know that a full-fledged

mandatory policy at this stage of the conversation serves some communities, each community, each state is a little different from the next. if we test some of these policies and practices, they need to move the conversation further along. >> let's go there. let's go with the thought of running a pilot programme. let's pig baltimore, you live in the same neighbourhood where freddie gray was arrested and killed at the hands of police. so many people came to light about disadvantaged neighbourhoods. opportunity for children to move up the ranks not there. let's say we ran a pilot programme. from the get go everyone was offered some sort of paid pat earnty maternity leave for a couple of weeks to be there with a newborn child, how do you think that would play-out in the neighbourhood in baltimore. how would it play out.

>> what you find is we have parents, particularly mums inclusive of partnerships with their dads and we have a change this demographics in terms of how families are formed. with dads it gives us the opportunity to change the culture in the way that men in our society providers and protectors, and we haven't encouraged me to be nurturers. >> encouraging men to be nurturers. that could be one result if there were extended family leaf. thank you so much. joe jones. founder of the center for urban families and center for working dad. >> that's it for us here tonight at "inside story". ray turns with a look at greece in the tlals of financial crisis and reverberations felt around the world.

running out of time. greece misses the deadline for 1.6 billion repayment to the i.m.f. hello there, you are watching al jazeera, live from doha. also on the programme - the death toll in the indonesian plane crash rises to 130 as more bodies are recovered in the city of medan. after half a century of cold war, the u.s. and cuba agree to reopen their