When I first came to Washington in the early 1990s, 31 million women had joined the labor force since the time I left college in 1968. A higher percentage of US women worked than our counterparts in almost any other developed nation. Progress was on the move.
Until it wasn’t.
Until it wasn’t.
At the time, we ranked 6th in labor force participation out of the 22 wealthiest countries.
And then something started to change — smaller cohorts of women started joining the labor force & more left altogether.
By 2010, American women no longer ranked 6th of 22.
We were 17th.
And then something started to change — smaller cohorts of women started joining the labor force & more left altogether.
By 2010, American women no longer ranked 6th of 22.
We were 17th.
Things were far from perfect in the earlier days.
Women were paid less for the same work. (They still are.)
And underneath the numbers was a widespread & intolerable culture of workplace discrimination, particularly for women of color.
Still, economic opportunity was growing.
Women were paid less for the same work. (They still are.)
And underneath the numbers was a widespread & intolerable culture of workplace discrimination, particularly for women of color.
Still, economic opportunity was growing.
And now, if you somehow transported economists from the 1980s to 2021 and just showed them the labor force data, they’d be hard pressed to see that anything had changed.
Even before 2020, the percentage of working women was at its 40 year low.
And then COVID-19 happened.
Even before 2020, the percentage of working women was at its 40 year low.
And then COVID-19 happened.
This #WomensHistoryMonth, women’s economic history seems to be flowing backwards.
There’s a frustrating irony at work — the US has awoken to the reality that sexual harassment and discrimination are enormous problems. And yet getting women into the workplace is still difficult.
There’s a frustrating irony at work — the US has awoken to the reality that sexual harassment and discrimination are enormous problems. And yet getting women into the workplace is still difficult.
One obvious reason is childcare.
If the US spent just the average world amount on programs like paid-family leave & subsidized childcare (we currently spend well below), American women wouldn’t be 17th in labor participation anymore. We’d be 11th. Still not great, but better.
If the US spent just the average world amount on programs like paid-family leave & subsidized childcare (we currently spend well below), American women wouldn’t be 17th in labor participation anymore. We’d be 11th. Still not great, but better.
The pandemic has turned the childcare problems into a crisis for mothers & caregivers. We know that, unlike many fathers who left the workforce early last year, most of the moms haven’t come back yet.
If they’re able to return it won’t be because we sat idly by — we must act.
If they’re able to return it won’t be because we sat idly by — we must act.
This month, the American Rescue Plan began this through a big expansion of the Child Tax Credit & the most significant investment in childcare since WWII, which will go directly to daycare centers and other providers. We want them to be there on the other side of this pandemic.
At Treasury, we’re working to implement these and other ARP programs to help women and their families, and reverse some of the trends we’ve seen over the past few decades.
This is just the start for us.
This is just the start for us.
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