Businesses have stopped as a result of the pandemic, and several people have been left unemployed. While the authorities rigidly enforced the lockdown regulations, people of both genders struggled to get by.
Many people are reentering the job force due to the limitations being lifted. Here are the thoughts of individuals in light of the recent growth in female employment.
Qynisha Jordan is pleased to be returning to work after spending most of her time with her kids at home. She has been out of work for two years due to the pandemic, having previously worked as an account manager at PepsiCo Atlanta.
“The best part has definitely been having conversations with adults and adult interaction. That’s been awesome,” she said.
“I vividly remember when the school called and said they were closing school. And from then on, I was at home. It was really difficult. I had three children who were doing three completely different things, all at the same time. It was a lot,” Jordan recounted.
Jordan is just one of the 2 million women who quit their jobs in the aftermath of the pandemic. But, like many other women, she waited for the best opportunity to return to the workforce since she needed to take care of a variety of things, including her family, her children, and others.
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Two and a half years ago, the large firing of women heightened businesses’ concerns. Businesses were forced to deal with a labor shortage due to worker departures, which might eventually harm the economy.
Economists and policymakers believed that if the trend was sustained, women would refuse to reverse their choices. Women, however, experienced the contrary and are now back in the labor force.
Betsey Stevenson, an economist from the University of Michigan, said, “Women had a very tough road to haul with kids working from home and with school being so uncertain. But we’re seeing that the pandemic did not do permanent damage to women’s attachment to the labor force.”
Rising prices of goods are forcing many to work
The number of women seeking work surged last month, according to statistics. According to the statistics, nearly 49 million women between the ages of 25 and 54 are reentering the working population.
The statistic exceeds the number of employees in February 2020, before the beginning of the lockdowns. The category of job seekers also appears to be dominated by Black and Latina women.
According to Stevenson, two main reasons encourage women to return to the workforce. First, children are returning to school due to the restarted in-person instruction, giving women more free time.
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Furthermore, there is a high inflation rate, which drives up costs. Finally, to offset the growing costs of food, petrol, and other services, women who don’t have sufficient income must discover alternative sources of income.
“People are being sort of pushed by the rising prices to think, ‘Ugh, my savings are getting hit a little bit too hard.’ And instead of being out there spending their money, they’re going back to work to earn money,” Stevenson explained.
“We needed to adjust to a new normal. Maybe one reason we’re seeing people go back to work is they’ve been trying to figure out how to adjust, and they’re reaching some conclusions about how to do it — how to balance it all.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Source: NPR
