Working Moms Took a Hit in the Pandemic. The Pain May Make the Wage Gap Worse.

Half a million more prime age working women dropped out of the labor force than men with the onset of the pandemic. Women’s labor-force participation is beginning to recover, hitting 58.4% in August. It’s still nearly a percentage point below prepandemic levels, and women are still down a net 98,000 jobs since before the pandemic, even as men have recovered all their losses and now hold 338,000 more jobs than in February 2020, according to the National Women’s Law Center.