Weekly Updates
Weekly Updates
- Workers who are also looking after children tend to want a shorter commute. The first question in accepting a job is not “is this the best job for me,” but “how near is this to the school?” This limits the jobs available, potentially meaning lower pay or doing a job they are over-qualified for.
- In the United States, women typically provide childcare, and are more likely to settle for lower paid jobs to be near their children. Flexible working is changing this. With flexible working, geography becomes less relevant, or irrelevant.
- Female participation in the US workforce has steadily increased. The number of working mothers is 1.9% above its pre-pandemic level. Flexible working also means better-quality employment for women. For service sector employment (more likely to offer flexible working), where women have increased in both number and share of the workforce, almost two-thirds of the jobs pay above average earnings.
- This should be a positive for productivity and economic growth. Childcare providers do not have to waste their skills for geographic convenience. It means that average hourly earnings should increase (because women are trading up from lower-paid to higher-paid jobs), and households with working mothers will be able to spend more than before flexible working.
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