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The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Trade Commission. The contributions of Amy Hopson to this article were prepared in her former capacity as a researcher at Duke University. The opinions expressed in the article are the authors' own and do not reflect the views of the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Department of Labor or the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Using a balanced sample of workers from the NHIS, we estimate of the impact of paid sick leave (PSL) insurance on absenteeism in the United States. PSL increases absenteeism by 1.2 days per year, a large effect given the typical benefit duration. Consistent with moral hazard, the effects are concentrated in moderate sick days, not severe ones. In addition, we merge the NHIS with Google Flu Trends. Severe influenza outbreaks lead workers to exhaust sick days, consequently leading to a replacement rate of zero for additional absences. Consistent with a lower replacement rate, worker absenteeism is reduced on the margin. We thank Glenn Blomquist, Frank Scott, Bill Hoyt, John Garen and Tim Harris for helpful comments. We also thank Matthis Schendstok for research assistance. Any errors are, of course, our own.2