Caregiving costs squeeze women out of the workforce.
The American dream is becoming increasingly difficult for many women who are leaving the U.S. workforce, as new data highlights ongoing pressures tied to caregiving costs. Between January and August 2025, 455,000 women left the labor market, according to Catalyst, with many citing difficult trade-offs between a paycheck and the high price of professional caregiving.
Catalyst’s report revealed that nearly half a million female employees voluntarily left their jobs for various reasons. Forty-two percent cited leaving due to caregiving responsibilities, 37% cited a lack of schedule flexibility, while smaller percentages of those surveyed noted issues with pay dissatisfaction or job market uncertainty.
“This moment is especially risky. We are at the very tip of this spear, and we can still do something about it,” Catalyst President and CEO Jennifer McCollum told WTOP in Washington, D.C. “When women are leaving the corporate world, or the government world or NGO and nonprofit world en masse, like we’re seeing now, and you combine that with fewer leaders wanting to talk openly about that… we are creating the conditions for a labor market crisis.”
LendingTree research from November 2025 found that in 100 of the largest U.S. metro areas, the average monthly cost for infant care is 25.3% lower than the cost of rent for a two-bedroom apartment. For families with both an infant and a toddler, childcare costs are 31.5% higher than rent.
Federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show women’s labor force participation dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since largely rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels, though surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate ongoing childcare challenges continue to affect workforce participation.
After accounting for inflation, 18% of those women surveyed who left the workforce couldn’t justify their salary against the rising costs of care. Catalyst’s data shows that women want to work but are being squeezed by rigid corporate structures and a lack of post-COVID flexibility.
“Women are not ‘opting out’ — they are leaving because many jobs are not designed around the logistical and financial realities of childcare and women’s lives,” Catalyst research director Sheila Brassel wrote in the study. “Employers that want to bring women back to the workforce and retain top talent need to take action through tangible and meaningful policies that support women’s full participation.”
Employers, meanwhile, have faced pressure to balance flexible work policies with operational demands, with some companies scaling back remote work options in recent years. Re-engaging and retaining women requires addressing caregiving realities, offering schedule flexibility, and ensuring work structures, equal pay, and access to opportunity that allow women not only to return to the workforce, but to thrive there.
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