Mothers who quit their jobs during the pandemic are coming back to the workforce at higher rates under the Biden economy, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Over the last few months, there have been more mothers participating in the workforce than there have been since 1948, when the Labor Department began tracking the data, the outlet reports. In July, 75% of mothers participated in the workforce, according to data analyzed by the outlet, only slightly higher than the 74% participation rate at the start of 2020. Once the pandemic began, that percentage fell to 70.5% by April. (RELATED: Woke Activists In The Workplace Are Sparking A Surge In Free Speech Cases)
In recent months, there have been more mothers in the US workforce than at any time since the labour department began tracking them in 1948. https://t.co/P2iq04BRbZ pic.twitter.com/UGjaxWDm1D
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) August 28, 2023
“What is incredibly remarkable in terms of that particular [prime-age] group is that we know that age group tends to have caregiving responsibilities, not just for young children, but also of elderly people,” Khattar said.
“Moms returned to the labour force at a quicker rate than women without children, and my interpretation of that is that moms had to come back to work because of the economic needs of their families,” Misty Heggeness, a University of Kansas professor, said. “In today’s economy, being a one-earner family is becoming a luxury of the ultra-rich.”
The Biden White House celebrated women in the workforce in a press release on Mother’s Day 2023.
“Post-pandemic, mothers have reengaged with the labor force, with help from the robust recovery and the American Rescue Plan,” the administration touted.
The release bemoaned the “existence of untapped labor supply among prime-age women.”
The U.S. economy recorded an increase of 431,000 jobs in March of 2022, two years after pandemic lockdowns first began rolling out. The US had recovered 90% of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic by that time.