Do US employers provide breastfeeding support?
Only 26 percent of US employers report having had a “lactation program/designated area” for their employees in 2007.2 However, these employers do not specify whether this means there is a private room in which to pump on-site, professional lactation support, subsidies for breast-pump purchases, or whether the “lactation program” consists of no more than allowing employees to pump in their own offices. The larger the employer, the more likely it is to have a lactation program and/or desig-nated area. Forty-two percent of organizations with 500 or more employees report having a “lactation program/designated area,” while only 9 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees do.3 The rate of lactation pro-grams also varies by industry, though the results are a bit surprising. In the private service industry—which includes such jobs as hotel maids and waitresses, who are unlikely to have long break times or private offices—the rate is 25 percent, which is pretty much the same rate as t
