Nearly three years after the pandemic began, parents are still feeling a financial squeeze because of child care.
In December, 51,000 parents had to miss work because of child-care problems. That's an improvement over October's record high when 104,000 parents missed work, but it's still greater than pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Total employment for women with children under age 18 was at 24.7 million in November, an increase of about 199,000 compared with November 2019. But the unemployment rate for women with children under age 6 was 3.8% in November, slightly higher than the 3.6% recorded in November 2019.
