WEBVTT - With Many Schools Teaching Virtually, Some Working Moms Have Been Forced to Quit

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, November twelve. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>When it comes to jobs, women have been hit hard

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<v Speaker 1>by the coronavirus pandemic. More than two million women have

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<v Speaker 1>dropped out of the labor force as of October, and

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<v Speaker 1>one of the big reasons is that virtual schooling is

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<v Speaker 1>causing moms to quit having to make tough decisions about

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<v Speaker 1>paying for childcare or working. Many women with school age

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<v Speaker 1>children are staying home. Heather Long, economics correspondent at the

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<v Speaker 1>Washington Post, joins us for how the pandemic has hit

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<v Speaker 1>working women. Thanks for joining us, Heather, Thanks for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to keep in on the progress with the

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<v Speaker 1>economy throughout the coronavirus pandemic. And one of the things

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<v Speaker 1>that we're seeing from the last bit of numbers, this

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<v Speaker 1>is coming from October numbers, is that more than two

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<v Speaker 1>million women had dropped out of the labor force as

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<v Speaker 1>of October, and the percentage of women working is the

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<v Speaker 1>lowest since nine And one of the big reasons they

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<v Speaker 1>think is going on with this is because of the

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<v Speaker 1>uncertainty of schools across the country and kids having to

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<v Speaker 1>continue to learn at home and doing this online schooling,

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<v Speaker 1>this pandemic recession. I love the term has been dubbed

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<v Speaker 1>the she session because it's hurting men far worse in

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<v Speaker 1>this respect, and as I mentioned, schooling is a big

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<v Speaker 1>part of this. I think some of the numbers show

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<v Speaker 1>that women with school age children definitely haven't returned back

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<v Speaker 1>to the labor force. So, Heather, help us walk through

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<v Speaker 1>some of these numbers and figure this all out. This

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<v Speaker 1>was dubbed the she session, as you put it, over

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<v Speaker 1>the summer, and initially that made sense. We just look

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<v Speaker 1>around our own communities. We can see a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>these restaurants emptying out, hotels, entertainment, hair salons, places that

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<v Speaker 1>tended to employ more women and particularly women of color

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<v Speaker 1>than men. And so it wasn't a huge surprise that

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<v Speaker 1>we saw initially women get harder hit. But what you're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about, what really piqued my interest is what happened

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<v Speaker 1>then in September. We started to see this big divergence

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<v Speaker 1>between men and women in September. And what happened is basically,

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<v Speaker 1>as schools started up again and many of them were

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<v Speaker 1>hybrid or virtual distance learning, whatever you want to call it,

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<v Speaker 1>it wasn't working for families, and the person who had

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<v Speaker 1>to end up generally doing this was the mom. And

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<v Speaker 1>so there, as you pointed out the fewest women working

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<v Speaker 1>since nine we saw over eight hundred thousand women dropped

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<v Speaker 1>out of the labor flour, so they stopped working or

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<v Speaker 1>stopped looking for a job in September alone. And when

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<v Speaker 1>October rolled around, sometimes you think, oh, is that just

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<v Speaker 1>the fluke one month fluke. Nope, when October rolled around,

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<v Speaker 1>men particularly dad to basically fully gained any of their

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<v Speaker 1>losses from September, which were much much less steep. And

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<v Speaker 1>when moms women are still very much struggling to get

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<v Speaker 1>back to work and get back to jobs. And in

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<v Speaker 1>particular what we're seeing is moms of elementary age kids,

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<v Speaker 1>so ages six to twelve. Basically, it makes sense your

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<v Speaker 1>kindergartener and first grader cannot do virtual learning on their

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<v Speaker 1>own right. They need that constant supervision. And you spoke

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<v Speaker 1>to a bunch of women on this particular thing, and

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<v Speaker 1>they had a lot of tough decisions to make. You

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<v Speaker 1>can pay for childcare, but in a lot of cases

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<v Speaker 1>people were saying, well, it just doesn't outweigh the cost.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, I will probably make less going out and

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<v Speaker 1>working and paying more for somebody to take care of

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<v Speaker 1>the children rather than just doing it myself. And that

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<v Speaker 1>was a lot of what you were hearing, and it's heartbreaking.

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<v Speaker 1>I was thinking of an unemployed woman. I spoke to

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<v Speaker 1>Courtney Allen in upstate New York. Substitute teacher lost her

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<v Speaker 1>job like many in the spring, and she desperately needs

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<v Speaker 1>the money these unemployment payments. She still receives them, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's barely enough to cover her rent. And she's got

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<v Speaker 1>a kindergartener in a for scrater, two young boys, one

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<v Speaker 1>of whom has the a d D a d h D,

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<v Speaker 1>which makes it even harder to sit there on a

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<v Speaker 1>computer all day and learning. And you know, she said

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<v Speaker 1>to me, I have no good options. I need the money.

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<v Speaker 1>I need to go back to work, but who's going

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<v Speaker 1>to watch my kids. My kids right now are in

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<v Speaker 1>a program that is distance learning, and so it's a

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<v Speaker 1>terrible situation to be in. And we're hearing that over

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<v Speaker 1>and over again. She's a single mom, but it's also

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<v Speaker 1>playing out in two parent families where it's often the

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<v Speaker 1>mom who is ending up having to take a step back,

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<v Speaker 1>scale back work, or scale back hours. And so what's

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<v Speaker 1>happening now is a lot of people are hoping for

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<v Speaker 1>more stimulus to be approved by Congress. So this money

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<v Speaker 1>could either be used for child care services or just

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<v Speaker 1>to continue supporting the families. And it's really important because

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<v Speaker 1>women that take time off for childcare and all that stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>historically it's harder for them to get back into the

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<v Speaker 1>workforce after you've been out of it for some time.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's another issue. And you know, we talk about

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<v Speaker 1>the constant effects of the pandemic, and you know, men

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<v Speaker 1>seem to take more of it. On the health side,

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<v Speaker 1>they're getting sicker and more severe cases and dying in

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<v Speaker 1>higher numbers. But on the economic side, it's harder for

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<v Speaker 1>women to recover that way. It definitely is, and unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 1>we have a lot of good data on this from

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<v Speaker 1>the past Great Recession and from the past really twenty years,

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<v Speaker 1>and what we found over and over again is when

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<v Speaker 1>women take a year off to watch children, it has

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<v Speaker 1>severe repercussions for their career. It's it's not only harder

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<v Speaker 1>to get back in, but they almost never earn as

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<v Speaker 1>much money as they did before. They have lower social

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<v Speaker 1>security lower retirement savings, so it just compounds for the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of their life in a very negative way. So

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<v Speaker 1>this is both a real pain for these families like

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<v Speaker 1>Courtney Allens who are struggling financially right now, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>also a detractor overall for the US economy. All Timately,

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<v Speaker 1>our economy grows when we have more workers, and we've

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<v Speaker 1>been trying to get more women into the workforce. The

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<v Speaker 1>United States already before the pandemic, lag well behind countries

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<v Speaker 1>like Canada, Germany, even Japan and how many women we

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<v Speaker 1>have working, So we were already way behind. Now we're

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<v Speaker 1>even further back. I mean, it's just one part of

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<v Speaker 1>the larger equation, but it's a very critical one to

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<v Speaker 1>get our American women working more and getting kids back

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<v Speaker 1>to school. Obviously that's a big component as well. But

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we're all waiting for vaccines, we're waiting for

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<v Speaker 1>other therapeutics. It's going to take some time, but it

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<v Speaker 1>is a critical part of that equation. Heather Long, economics

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<v Speaker 1>correspondent at the Washington Post, thank you very much for

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. Thank you. I'm Oscar Romeros, and this has

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<v Speaker 1>been reopening America. Don't forget different today's big news stories.

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<v Speaker 1>You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every Money Friday, So follow us on I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>where wherever you get your podcast. Me brother Deep b