Women And Mothers Are Holding the Labor Market Together, April Jobs Report Shows
By Center for American Progress Photos: Wikimedia Commons Washington, D.C. — The April 2026 jobs report released today shows a volatile labor market that’s being held together by women workers. Mothers with young children have been largely responsible for that post-pandemic growth, according to new analysis from the Center for American Progress. The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.3 percent. CAP’s analysis finds that women have become one of the strongest stabilizing forces in the labor market since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since February 2026, women have represented the majority of the nonfarm employed for only the third time since 1990, driven in large part by continued labor force participation gains among mothers with young children and growth in key industries such as health care. Despite some setbacks in prime age women’s participation rates this month, their rates remain up since 2019. “Women workers are carrying a disproportionate share of the labor market’s momentum right now,” said Sara Estep, an economist at the Center for American Progress and co-author of the analysis. “Even as labor supply growth slows and affordability pressures continue to rise, women, especially mothers, have been the backbone of the workforce. Meanwhile, the return-to-office push does not seem to be the key factor driving mothers’ labor force participation trends.” The analysis highlights several key trends underlying today’s jobs report: Women continue to drive labor force growth. Despite April’s pullback in prime-age women’s participation rates, since April 2006, labor force participation among prime-age women ages 25 to 54 has increased by 2.7 percentage points. Meanwhile, participation among prime-age men has fallen by 0.8 percentage points. Mothers with young children remain a major source of labor market strength. Labor force participation among mothers with children younger than 5 remains above pre-pandemic levels despite the expiration of nearly $37.5 billion in federal child care stabilization funding in 2023 and additional child care funding that expired in 2024. Women-dominated industries are propping up overall employment growth. The health care sector, which was more than 78 percent women in April 2026, has become critical to the labor market, even in months where the overall labor market has shed jobs. Affordable child care remains a major economic barrier. In 2025, 46 percent of children younger than 6 lived in child care deserts where licensed care options failed to meet demand, limiting workforce participation opportunities for many families. Telework trends do not explain recent labor force participation gains. CAP’s analysis finds that most women, including working mothers, still lack access to remote work options. Roughly 7 in 10 prime-age mothers with young children do not telework, suggesting broader economic necessity and industry shifts are driving labor force participation. Read the analysis: “Women Workers Are a Lifeline for the Economy” by Sara Estep and Kennedy Andara.
Black News 
By Center for American Progress
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Washington, D.C. — The April 2026 jobs report released today shows a volatile labor market that’s being held together by women workers. Mothers with young children have been largely responsible for that post-pandemic growth, according to new analysis from the Center for American Progress. The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.3 percent.
CAP’s analysis finds that women have become one of the strongest stabilizing forces in the labor market since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since February 2026, women have represented the majority of the nonfarm employed for only the third time since 1990, driven in large part by continued labor force participation gains among mothers with young children and growth in key industries such as health care. Despite some setbacks in prime age women’s participation rates this month, their rates remain up since 2019.
“Women workers are carrying a disproportionate share of the labor market’s momentum right now,” said Sara Estep, an economist at the Center for American Progress and co-author of the analysis. “Even as labor supply growth slows and affordability pressures continue to rise, women, especially mothers, have been the backbone of the workforce. Meanwhile, the return-to-office push does not seem to be the key factor driving mothers’ labor force participation trends.”
The analysis highlights several key trends underlying today’s jobs report:
- Women continue to drive labor force growth. Despite April’s pullback in prime-age women’s participation rates, since April 2006, labor force participation among prime-age women ages 25 to 54 has increased by 2.7 percentage points. Meanwhile, participation among prime-age men has fallen by 0.8 percentage points.
- Mothers with young children remain a major source of labor market strength. Labor force participation among mothers with children younger than 5 remains above pre-pandemic levels despite the expiration of nearly $37.5 billion in federal child care stabilization funding in 2023 and additional child care funding that expired in 2024.
- Women-dominated industries are propping up overall employment growth. The health care sector, which was more than 78 percent women in April 2026, has become critical to the labor market, even in months where the overall labor market has shed jobs.
- Affordable child care remains a major economic barrier. In 2025, 46 percent of children younger than 6 lived in child care deserts where licensed care options failed to meet demand, limiting workforce participation opportunities for many families.
- Telework trends do not explain recent labor force participation gains. CAP’s analysis finds that most women, including working mothers, still lack access to remote work options. Roughly 7 in 10 prime-age mothers with young children do not telework, suggesting broader economic necessity and industry shifts are driving labor force participation.
Read the analysis: “Women Workers Are a Lifeline for the Economy” by Sara Estep and Kennedy Andara.
