Percentage of working moms sees greatest decline in 40 years

More than 400,000 women left the workforce in the first half of 2025, according to the University of Kansas.

In an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the University of Kansas analyzed the workforce percentage of women ages 25 to 44 with children under 5 years old. The study found a 2.8 percentage point drop from January to June – the steepest decline in more than 40 years.

Moms with children under 5 are more likely to report childcare as the main reason for leaving the labor force or working part-time, according to the report.

The report also found moms of young children form the highest percent of remote workers – 35% – compared to 28% of childless women and 20% of men without children.

University of Kansas Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Economics Misty Heggeness cites childcare and life-balance as the two main reasons moms leave the workforce.

“Women are going to start backtracking and coming [out of] the labor force because it’s too intense and exhausting,” Heggeness told CBS News. “We don’t have enough support and structure around policies that actually help caregivers. When they’re faced with this choice, they’re not gonna leave their children, so they’re left with leaving their jobs.”

The national average cost of childcare in 2024 was $13,128, which is 10% of married parents’ median income and 35% of a single parent’s median income, according to Child Care Aware of America.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services currently limits childcare costs to 7% of a family’s annual income for the purposes of receiving subsidies.

Mackenzie Bruegge, an Iowa mom of two, says the cost of childcare canceled out the amount she made working.

“The average day care we found was about $500 a week, and I made maybe $1,000 every two weeks. So then, with two kids, I was like, ‘This just doesn’t make sense.’ It would just cancel out my check,” Bruegge told CBS News.

Bruegge says the balance of fulltime work as a mom of two was exhausting and wore on her and her family.

“Working eight hours a day while trying to do this, my head was spinning all day,” Bruegge said. “I felt guilt while working, which was very stressful for all of us.”

She and her husband decided to rely on his income as a plumber for her to be home full time with their children.

“It’s like a breath of fresh air. Just being able to focus on them. It’s still crazy,” Bruegge said. “But when I compare it to working and dealing with them, like, it’s nothing compared to that.”