Over the past five years, women between the ages of 25 and 54 have been the driving force behind the increase in the nation's workforce.
However, according to an analysis from the Hamilton Project, the post-pandemic gain in women's workforce participation has plateaued in recent months.
It's a change from January, when 78% of women between 25 and 54 — considered prime-age by the Hamilton Project report — had participated in the workforce, marking the highest partisan participation rate yet.
So why has it come down? Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the CEO of the women's nonprofit MomsRising, told Scripps News the ending of many pandemic-era programs plays a part.
During the pandemic, there were significant efforts to boost families and businesses, from small-business loans to child tax credits that allowed people to work more without significant losses. But many of those policies have been winding down over the past couple of months, and Rowe-Finkbeiner said politicians should work to reinstate them to bring the labor force numbers back up.
"Before the pandemic, our care infrastructure was hanging by a thread. With the pandemic, it unraveled altogether," Rowe-Finkbeiner told Scripps News. "We needed these policies desperately before the pandemic even hit, and the policies passing in the pandemic were proof positive that these types of changes are exactly what our nation needs for our businesses, our economy, our families to thrive."
Rowe-Finkbeiner said the Hamilton Project's report shows the "receipts" of the pandemic-era programs benefiting the country and should show politicians voting against their expansion that making them permanent would continue that gain.
That includes, Rowe-Finkbeiner said, paid leave after birth and child care assistance to help women return to that high level of driving participation in the workforce.
Currently, child care costs are taking up 33% of the median household's income, which makes it unaffordable for many families, per a study from the Center for American Progress. And though the Hamilton Project says that half of all working mothers of young children partially rely on child care facilities, the Century Foundation predicts 70,000 child care facilities could shutter and force 3.2 million kids to lose care if Congress fails to extend pandemic stabilization funds.
"We need — it's clear from study after study — to build that care infrastructure," Rowe-Finkbeiner told Scripps News. "We need all of those policies to have a stable workforce and importantly to make sure that family costs are lower. So right now we're seeing these labor force fluctuations happening because we've had some of these policies come in and out of play, and we need to put them back in the play."
As for future policies, Vice President Kamala Harris, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nominee, has outlined goals for affordable child care and paid family leave if she wins the 2024 election. Republican nominee former President Donald Trump did not answer the question about child care costs during his debate against President Biden, but he has previously called for extended paid family leave.
