"During the pandemic, over two million women left the workforce, many of whom were forced to leave their jobs in the absence of reliable childcare. It took years for female workers to recover from those losses, but eventually the share of working women had surpassed pre-pandemic numbers-though their participation in the labor force still remained lower relative to that of male workers. In 2025, however, it appears that the gains that women had made in recent years started to slip away."
"In the first half of the year, about 212,000 women exited the workforce, and there was a marked dip in employment among working mothers: An analysis by the Washington Post found that the share of working mothers between the ages of 25 and 44 dropped steadily from January to June, resulting in an overall decrease of nearly three percentage points."
Over two million women left the workforce during the pandemic, many forced out by lack of reliable childcare. Recovery took years; the share of working women surpassed pre-pandemic levels while female labor-force participation remained lower than men's. In 2025 gains began to reverse: about 212,000 women exited in the first half, and the share of working mothers aged 25–44 fell nearly three percentage points from January to June. In December, 81,000 workers left the labor force, all of them women per the National Women's Law Center; 91,000 women exited while 10,000 men entered. Across 2025 the female labor-force pool rose by 184,000 versus 572,000 for men. Unemployment rose for Black women to 7.3 percent; Latinas saw a marginal increase.
Read at Fast Company
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