2021’s Best & Worst States for Working Moms

The percent of the population working or looking for work--for all women with children under age 18 was 71.2 percent in 2020 down from 72.3 percent in the prior year. The COVID pandemic brought challenges and obstacles for many Americans. Much of the focus has been on the effects of school closings and child care responsibilities on mothers’ employment and labor force participation rates. With Mother’s Day around the corner and mothers regaining jobs lost due to COVID-19 at a faster rate than fathers, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best & Worst States for Working Moms.

In order to help ease the burden on mothers in the workforce, they compared the attractiveness of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for a working mother based on 17 key metrics. The data set ranges from the median women’s salary to the female unemployment rate to day-care quality.

Best vs. Worst

• New York has the highest day-care quality score, 116, which is five times higher than in Idaho, the lowest at 23.
• Mississippi has the lowest child-care costs as a share of the median women’s salary, 11.88 percent, which is 2.1 times lower than in Nebraska, the highest at 25.23 percent.
• North Dakota has the highest number of childcare workers per 1,000 children younger than 14, 21, which is 5.3 times higher than in Delaware, the lowest at 4.
• The District of Columbia has the highest ratio of female executives to male executives, 71.00 percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Utah, the lowest at 27.46 percent.
• Maryland has the lowest share of single-mom families with children younger than 18 in poverty, 24.40 percent, which is two times lower than in Mississippi, the highest at 47.80 percent.

WalletHub Q & A

What can companies do to help working parents balance home and work life?

“First and foremost, companies can remember that parents and their families and balance needs and responsibilities vary greatly,” said Susan K. Walker, PhD, University of Minnesota. “Families are not monolithic, and their needs should be understood, not assumed. That can mean doing more than demographic reports of workers by age, the number of children, and gender, and asking key questions that help to understand the responsibilities facing parents (including those as adult children of parents who they provide care for) and what would help them balance. For some, it might be time flexibility and leave that benefits both parent (or a single parent for the amount of time given to a couple), for others money to purchase resources to do work at home (e.g., pay for internet, a backup drive, a separate monitor), for others childcare subsidies and resources to locate quality childcare.”

“These structural benefits are well-known and can be improved upon and updated to reflect more contemporary lifestyles and interests of families.”

In evaluating the best states for working moms, what are the top five indicators?

“There are many ways that state policies can help working moms,” said Jane Waldfogel, Columbia University School of Social Work. Among the most important policies are:

• Paid family and medical leave and paid sick leave.
• Childcare subsidies and tax credits.
• Minimum wages.
• EITC and CTC.
• Predictable scheduling laws.

According to a recent report, more than 2.3 million American women had dropped out completely from the labor force since the start of the pandemic. What can state and local governments do to support working mothers during this troubling time?

“One important thing is to continue to provide monetary support (stimulus checks, tax credits, etc.) as families struggle financially,” said Geoffrey L. Brown, University of Georgia. “Many people have been hit hard economically by the pandemic, but working parents are disproportionately affected. I would hope that governments look closely at labor laws and practices, and work to make sure that nobody is losing their job as a result of health problems, the time needed to care for family members, or support for children’s schooling. I also think that collaborations between state/local governments, school districts, and public health officials to ensure that schools can re-open safely and effectively is a big step in the coming months. It takes a multi-faceted approach to get there but getting all children back to school is really critical in terms of helping working parents (and helping their children) and getting life back to normal during and after the pandemic. I think also devoting more resources to support the mental health of both parents and children is a good investment for state and local governments. Establishing and adequately funding mental health services, promoting existing programs, and actively promoting those services and programs are tangible steps that can be taken. It has been a stressful time for families. Governments can and should help.”

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-for-working-moms/3565

Courtesy: WalletHub