Briefing
The Pandemic, Child Care and Women’s Labor Force Participation
Latham, Sierra; Athreya, Kartik B. (2022-05)
The pandemic has changed how households work, spend and care for children. In this Economic Brief, we highlight economic research that examines the patterns seen in women's work experiences in particular. We look at both the pandemic and, more generally, how shocks to the economy affect women's work decisions. Throughout, we will try to connect what we observe to households' broader economic environments and will emphasize — in the case of the pandemic — the role of away-from-home child care.
Richmond Fed Economic Brief , Volume 22 , Issue 16

Journal Article
President's Message: Flexible Work and Women's Participation
Barkin, Tom (2024-08-13)
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, one of the many shocks families faced was the closing of schools and child care centers. In many families, the burden of dealing with such shocks was disproportionately borne by the mom — so this sudden change hit women's labor force participation hard. Commentators labeled it a "she-cession."
Econ Focus , Volume 24 , Issue 3Q , Pages 1

Journal Article
Women without a College Degree, Especially Minority Mothers, Face a Steeper Road to Recovery
Tuzemen, Didem (2021-08-12)
Didem Tüzemen documents changes in the labor force participation rates of prime-age individuals across sex, education level, and race and ethnicity during the pandemic-induced downturn and subsequent recovery. Her analysis yields three key findings. First, prime-age women without a bachelor’s degree experienced greater deteriorations in their labor force participation and employment during the recession than all other prime-age individuals, and their labor force participation and employment rates are still well below their pre-pandemic levels. Second, Hispanic prime-age women without a ...
Economic Review , Volume 106 , Issue no.3 , Pages 5-23

Journal Article
Women Are Driving the Recent Recovery in Prime-Age Labor Force Participation
Tuzemen, Didem; Tran, Thao (2019-12-18)
The labor force participation rate of prime-age individuals (age 25 to 54) in the United States declined dramatically during and after the Great Recession. While the rate remains below its pre-recession level, it has been increasing steadily since 2015. We examine how different demographic groups have contributed to this rebound and find that college-educated women have made the largest contribution to the recent recovery in the prime-age labor force participation rate.
Economic Bulletin , Issue Dec 18, 2019 , Pages 4

Speech
The Business Case for Diverse Perspectives
Neal, Michelle (2024-06-18)
Remarks at the Bloomberg Intelligence Women in Finance: Fixed Income Halftime Report, New York City.
Speech

Briefing
Are Younger Generations of Women Prepared for Retirement?
Jones, John Bailey; Li, Yue; Neelakantan, Urvi (2024-05)
We describe changes in the financial circumstances of women over time, focusing on employment, income and wealth. Beginning with the 1920 birth cohort, we show that women's income grew for several successive cohorts, then entered a period of stability. However, there has been no such growth in wealth. This suggests that younger generations of women may not be any better prepared for retirement than their predecessors.
Richmond Fed Economic Brief , Volume 24 , Issue 17

Journal Article
Were Teleworkable Jobs Pandemic-Proof?
Tuzemen, Didem; Tran, Thao (2020-09-30)
While the majority of pandemic-related job losses have been in occupations where working from home was not possible, work-from-home or “teleworkable” jobs were not pandemic-proof. In addition, the number of teleworkable jobs lost and recovered differed by workers’ sex and education status. Both college-educated and non-college-educated women experienced larger employment losses and slower recoveries in teleworkable jobs than their male counterparts.
Economic Bulletin

Working Paper
Women's Labor Force Exits during COVID-19: Differences by Motherhood, Race, and Ethnicity
Lim, Katherine; Zabek, Mike (2021-10-18)
In this paper, we study declines in women's labor force participation by race and ethnicity as well as the presence of children. We find that increases in labor force exits were larger for Black women, Latinas, and women living with children. In particular, we find larger increases in pandemic-era labor force exits among women living with children under age 6 and among lower-earning women living with school-age children after controlling for detailed job and demographic characteristics. Latinas and Black women also had larger increases in labor force exits during the pandemic relative to ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 2021-067

Journal Article
Community Colleges in the Fifth District: Who Attends, Who Pays?
Ullrich, Laura Dawson (2019-10)
Econ Focus , Issue 4Q , Pages 27-31