More than 200,000 women who are 20 years or older have left the U.S. workforce since January, new jobs report data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Alana Semuels, a senior correspondent at TIME, joins with more.

A growing number of women in the United States are leaving the workforce, with recent data indicating that 212,000 women aged 20 and over have exited since the start of the year. In contrast, men in the same age group have seen a net increase of 44,000 workers. Factors contributing to this trend include the end of pandemic-era childcare subsidies, rising daycare costs—often exceeding college tuition in many states—and the implementation of stricter return-to-office policies. 

These challenges are prompting many families to reconsider their ability to balance work and childcare, often resulting in women leaving their jobs. The economic impact is significant, as fewer women in the workforce can reduce family incomes and government tax revenues. The situation also exacerbates gender disparities and complicates efforts to address the declining U.S. birth rate.

Why more women are leaving the U.S. workforce

Now, to a concerning trend in the labor force. The exodus of women in the workplace is rising at an alarming rate. Take a look at data from the most recent jobs report. It shows 212,000 women, age 20 and over, have left the workforce since the start of this year, while men of the same age have added 44,000 workers. Alana Semuels is a senior correspondent for Time who is writing about this, and she joins us now with more. Good morning, Alana. So why are so many women leaving the workplace? Right, so we saw during the pandemic a lot of women actually entering the workforce. And now we're seeing a lot of strict return to office policies. And a lot of families are deciding they just can't pull that off. The other thing that's going on is daycare is getting really difficult because of the end of some pandemic subsidies. And so a lot of families are looking around and saying, I can't afford this. And one of the parents is gonna have to drop out, and it's often the woman. I have always heard my friends with children complain and gasp at the cost of childcare. Can you just help me understand how much that does cost? Because there are some long-term impacts to women with young children leaving the workforce. Right, so in a lot of states, I think it's about 33 states, it's actually more than college tuition. It really ranges. I think Washington, DC, it's about $18,000 a year for two children. As I said, there used to be pandemic subsidies, and those would have actually continued under the Build Back Better Act, but that did not pass. And so it's getting really expensive. And at the same time, you have childcare workers on Medicaid or food stamps. So it's getting really expensive for families, and there's just not really a solution on the horizon. And it's alarming to some too, because we're now seeing increased gender disparities in the workforce. And this report comes out as the president's trying to combat a declining birth rate in the US. So how do these issues correlate? Right, so I think a lot of women are deciding, having to decide over their careers or having children. You know, some might decide to drop out of the workforce and have children, and some might decide, you know what, I wanna put my career first, or my family can't afford to survive on one income. One interesting thing is they actually looked at the pandemic childcare subsidies, and they actually earned some money back because women were entering the workforce, and that was coming back to the government in the form of taxes. So it's not great for our economy for a lot of people, especially women, to drop out of the workforce. That means families have less income to spend. And so, you know, rather than encouraging families to expand while people can pursue these careers, these return to office and end of childcare subsidy policies are really doing the opposite. So a fascinating data point and issue happening for so many people. I read your Time article, it's really interesting. Ilana Samuels, thanks for joining us this morning. Great to see you. Thank you.

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