CBO said that "providing a more generous benefit to employees may enhance the federal government’s ability to retain employees after the birth or adoption of a child and thereby lower recruitment and training costs"–a key argument of sponsors of the bill–but it could not estimate what those savings would be. Backers say that such a benefit is needed to keep the government’s benefits comparable to what employees could get in the private sector, although they base that argument largely on offerings of the largest private sector employers. A report issued earlier this year by the congressional Joint Economic Committee found that three-fourths of Fortune 100 companies offer paid maternity leave, averaging six to eight weeks, although only a third of them offer paid paternity leave, averaging two weeks. Overall, only 8 percent of employers offer paid family leave, and one in five doesn’t even offer unpaid leave, the report said. It said that paid parental leave is common in other industrialized countries, but opponents argue that the government does not compete for employees against other countries, but against U.S. employers.