Flexibility and Rising Costs Are Keeping Mothers at Work

Mothers of young children surged into the labor force during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by a tight job market, federal child care subsidies and a sudden abundance of remote work. The share of women with children under 5 who were working or looking for work peaked at nearly 71 percent in September 2023 and remains above prepandemic levels, an analysis of government data from the Hamilton Project shows.

Partly this reflects an enduring shift in employer expectations: more jobs are at least partly remote and more employers offer flexible office policies, which helps parents—especially mothers in white-collar roles—balance caregiving and paid work. Economists say a bleaker factor is financial strain; "It's not something to be proud of," said Kathryn Anne Edwards, a labor economist and policy consultant.

Grocery prices have climbed more than 25 percent over five years, and child care prices in most states have risen more than twice as fast as overall prices, the Century Foundation found.

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