The gist:
While careful not to comment on specific proposals, Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, “suggested that improved child care support policies from the government might help pull more women into the labor market.”
“Our peers, our competitors, advanced economy democracies, have a more built-up function for child care, and they wind up having substantially higher labor force participation for women,” Mr. Powell said.
He referenced research that shows ‘adult women in the United States hold jobs or look for them at lower rates than women in some other advanced economies,’ which suggested: “the divergence may be linked to child care policies.“ Chairman Powell also noted that the U.S. “used to lead the world in female labor force participation a quarter-century ago,” and because we no longer do, “ It may just be that those policies have put us behind.”
While his comments refer to improving the economy post-pandemic, and primarily through getting womxn back to work, it raises the issues of who it is that has enacted “the policies” that have let our female workforce participation lag globally? It makes you realize how important your vote is the next time that comes around, yes?
Read the NYTimes article by Jeanna Smialek here.
