A full-time, nine-to-five schedule is often incompatible with parenting responsibilities. In the absence of robust government support for families, mothers of young children have much lower rates of labor force participation than fathers. Organizational practices and laws can be adapted to increase labor force participation rates among parents, especially mothers of young children.
Several recent columns from the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies have examined the current labor market. Dr. Don Mathews showed that the labor market is experiencing a demographic crisis; we have an aging population and a declining birth rate, resulting in a smaller proportion of working-age people. My other Murphy Center associates identified some solutions. Dr. Melissa Trussell advocated for policies that promote fertility and immigration. Dr. Heather Farley proposed that organizations work to retain existing employees, especially aging employees who must choose between full-time work and retirement. My column contributes to this conversation by advocating for policies that allow parents to work.
Being a parent is a full-time job, but it doesn’t pay. Giving birth and the associated recovery time forces mothers to take time away from paid work. Until a child is school-aged, parents must provide childcare. Families provide childcare in a range of ways: center-based childcare, care from a relative, hiring a nanny or babysitter, or parent care. Even after kids start school, parents’ nine-to-five work schedules do not align with school hours and extracurricular activities.
Center-based childcare is expensive. In many parts of the country, childcare tops housing as the greatest household expense. It can be more expensive to send a toddler to daycare than to send a teen to college. For many lower-income households, opting out of the workforce or shifting to part-time work are the only viable options for providing childcare.
Based on the gendered division of paid and unpaid labor in the U.S., the caregiving burden falls on women disproportionately. Mothers are more likely than fathers to opt out of the workforce or shift from full-time to part-time work. In 2020, fathers of children under three had a labor force participation rate of 93.5%, while mothers of children under three had a rate of 63.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This time out of the workforce impacts women’s regular weekly income, career advancement, and lifetime earnings.
Employers would be wise to adopt parent-friendly policies. Adapting existing positions to be fully remote would allow more parents to work. As appropriate for the job duties, schedule flexibility can allow parents to complete work around childcare responsibilities. Similarly, many part-time positions would be more attractive to parents if the position guaranteed a fixed schedule and reliable income.
Expanding opportunities for professional part-time work will allow more parents to work. Organizations could create positions with attractive compensation packages and flexible schedules to recruit skilled part-time workers who are alienated from the labor market.
Federal and state legislation could strengthen worker protections and enhance benefits for part-time workers. Additionally, laws that expand parental leave and add job protections for parents would keep more mothers in the workforce.
These changes are a win for all. Labor market participation is good for the economy. Income and employer-sponsored benefits support families. And, elevated labor force participation reduces reliance on the social safety net.
What does the future hold? The impending overturn of Roe v. Wade will increase the birth rate, especially among lower-income women in states restricting access to reproductive healthcare. More families will have to choose between paid work or providing childcare. I will end with some good news. The pandemic normalized working from home. Many jobs that were once bound to brick-and-mortar offices are now permitting remote work, reducing the need for center-based childcare. In addition, recent infrastructure investments are increasing the number of households that have access to broadband internet. These developments promise to increase the opportunities for employment among parents of young children.
Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia and an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.
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