Mothers, Families and Work

Lifetime Employment-Related Costs to Women of Providing Family Care

This report from the Urban Institute, commissioned by the Women’s Bureau, examines how the amount of time spent providing care to children and adults impacts women’s economic well-being, even long after the caregiving ends. Researchers found that the estimated employment-related costs for mothers providing unpaid care average $295,000 over a lifetime, based on the 2021 U.S. dollar value, adjusted for inflation. Unpaid family caregiving reduces a mother’s lifetime earnings by 15 percent, which also creates a reduction in retirement income.

• Explore the full report (PDF)
• Review the Executive Summary (PDF)
• Read the press release

Mothers and the Pandemic

• Mothers’ Employment Three Years Later: An Assessment of Employment Loss and Recovery During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF)
• Pandemic Employment Losses Worse for Working Moms Without Degrees

Other Resources

U.S. Department of Labor Guidance on Supportive Services for Child Care and Long-Term Care This guidance is intended to assist Federal agencies, Federal funding recipients, employers, workforce development entities, and other stakeholders in the care community to make thoughtful investments into child care and long-term care to support workers.

Data & Information

• Data and Stats on Mothers and Families Find data on selected characteristics of mothers and families, including labor force participation rates, unemployment, occupation, family type, earnings, and family income.
• National Database of Childcare Prices The most comprehensive source of child care prices at the county level with price data by provider type, age of child and county.
• Employment Protection for Workers Who are Pregnant or Nursing Information on federal and state-level employment protections against pregnancy discrimination, provisions for pregnancy accommodation, and workplace breastfeeding rights.
• Paid Leave It’s time to care about paid leave.
  Learn more about access to, and the need for, paid leave.

Blogs

• What to Expect from Your Employer When You’re Expecting
• For women, access to family-friendly work policies varied dramatically before COVID
• Minding the Gap: How Better Care Policies Can Help Families Balance Work and Home
• Working Moms Need Access to Leave and Job Flexibility
• For Black Women, Implicit Racial Bias in Medicine May Have Far-Reaching Effects
• Nursing Mom Fights for Workplace Rights
• The Importance of Evidence-Based Leave Policy