WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Labor and elected federal officials held a media briefing today to discuss the release of a report by the department’s Women’s Bureau on how caring for family has long-term impacts on a mother’s lifetime earnings.
Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon and U.S. Representatives Gwen Moore, Susan Wild and Shontel Brown shared findings from the “Lifetime Employment-Related Costs to Women of Providing Family Care” report. Women’s Bureau Senior Advisor Sarah Jane Glynn also took part in the briefing.
The report finds the amount of time women spend providing essential care to children and adults has a substantial personal economic cost that continues long after the caregiving ends. The estimated employment-related costs for mothers providing unpaid care averages $295,000 over a lifetime, based on the 2021 U.S. dollar value, adjusted for inflation. Unpaid family caregiving reduces a mother’s lifetime earnings by 15 percent, which also creates a reduction in retirement income.
“Families often think first of immediate demands out of necessity. Children, aging loved ones and people with disabilities need care right now, and when that care is needed during working hours – or is too expensive or inaccessible — it is the mothers who usually scale back on paid work to provide care,” explained Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon. “This report shows that lacking the necessary care infrastructure and safety net affects more than those immediate moments....
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