Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) highlighted the specific impacts that COVID-19-related economic turmoil has had on working women in a Financial Services Committee hearing with Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Rep. Axne referenced her own experience as a working mother of two as she underscored the impact that lack of affordable child care can have on working mothers and the long-term effects of women leaving the workforce.
“We’ve seen about 4 million people leave the labor force – almost 60% of those have been women…We hit a 33-year low last month, and more than a million more women have lost their jobs then men,” said Rep. Axne. “I’ve been there – I have two boys and at the most expensive time even 15 years ago…you had to save $20,000 after taxes…I know this is really hurting Americans and there are child care deserts.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven female participation in the labor force to its lowest level since 1988.
Chair Powell acknowledged that women leaving the workforce due to lack of child care access puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to other industrialized nations.
“Our peers, our competitors, advanced economy democracies have a more built-up function for childcare,” said Chair Powell. "We used to lead the world in female labor force participation... and we no longer do. It may just be that those policies have put us behind."
Rep. Axne also conferred with Chair Powell about the high numbers of Iowans that have left the workforce over the past year – which Chair Powell confirmed is one reason why traditional unemployment metrics do not accurately capture the health of the labor market.
“That’s something I clearly see in Iowa. Our unemployment in December actually fell back below three and half percent but that ignores about 130,000 Iowans who’ve just left the labor force completely,” said Rep. Axne. “Is that something that you will be looking at closely when it comes to determining if the economy is at full employment?”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Rep. Axne has focused on the issue of child care access as a foundation for getting families safely back to work.
Congress included Rep. Axne’s legislation to allow families to roll over unused child care savings in the COVID-19 relief package signed into law last December.
The American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief legislation scheduled for a vote in the House later this week, also includes a provision to increase the cap on tax-free child care savings to $10,500 for 2021 – a child care affordability solution first introduced by Rep. Axne last March. The American Rescue Plan also includes $40 billion in investments to improve access to affordable child care.
The video of Rep. Axne’s conversation with Chair Powell can be found here.
The full hearing can be found here.
Original source can be found here.
