Pandemic-era workplace updates make it easier for women to return to labor force

Women have gained more jobs than men each month since November

BY SHELBY ROSENBERG

Remote work policies and other workplace changes brought on by the pandemic are helping women get back to work at a faster rate than men.

An analysis of federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data by e Washington Post found that the percentage of working-age women in the workforce has increased by 3.4% over the pandemic’s low point in April 2020, while men’s participation is up by 2.1%. Federal data shows that women have gained more jobs than men each month between November and February.

More women are likely coming back to the workforce because more left in the rst place, said Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder and chief brand o cer of Chief, a membership network for women executives. From March 2020 to March 2022, a million women left their job, and women have accounted for 68.5% of the net job loss since February 2020, according to a March 2022 report from the National Women’s Law Center.

“It was a time when the multiple roles women play in their households were exposed like never before,” Kaplan said.

Economists feared widespread unemployment would stall women’s earnings and career advancement overall. During the pandemic, nearly 12 million women and 10 million men left the workforce. Now it appears that some pandemic-era changes to the workplace are making it easier for women to return.

Remote work has allowed many women to regain their professional footing while juggling home and child care responsibilities, Kaplan said.

But it isn’t just women snagging remote roles who are heading back to work; women in frontline industries such as hospitality, manufacturing and retail are coming back too. ough the nature of frontline positions means companies can’t entice employees with work-from-home options, companies are o ering other forms of exibility, said Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Manhattan-based nonpro t Catalyst, which seeks to advance women in the workplace.

“[Companies are starting to o er] their frontline employees more consistent schedules, so they’re not having to wait to nd out the days and hours they’re working every week,” Hariton explained. “ at’s a really important bene t for women who may have multiple competing agendas, whether it’s juggling multiple jobs or caring for young children.”

How and when women work are clearly important factors attracting them back to the labor force, but they’re not the only ones.

Hariton and Kaplan said an increasing number of the companies they’ve talked with have launched employee