Skip to content
Navigating a New Political Landscape: View real-time updates about the impact of and Northeastern’s response to recent political changes.
Apply
Stories

Economist cites challenges for employers with loss of federal subsidies for childcare

People in this story

Small toddler playing with alphabet toys.

Human Resources Director, October 2023

Pandemic-era federal subsidies for childcare came to an end last weekend, and, as a result, 220,000 providers that depended on the program lost crucial income. It’s a huge setback for women workers, said economist Dr. Alicia Sasser Modestino, Research Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University. Sasser Modestino has done extensive research into the impact of childcare on the workforce, and said that the funding stoppage comes just as women are hitting an important milestone.

More women are in the workforce now since before the pandemic, she said, a direct result of the 2021 $24-billion American Rescue Plan, which expired this month. In January 2020, women had just exceeded being half of all workers in the workforce, Sasser Modestino said, a benchmark that had never been seen before.

“And then the pandemic hits in March 2020, and wipes out that progress entirely and set women back for several years,” she said. “We’re at this moment where recently, over the last six months, we’ve seen that women have not only recovered in terms of their labor force participation, but it’s actually at its highest level ever.”

Continue reading at Human Resources Director.

More Stories

Laurel and Scroll 100 honors outstanding graduate students for achievements aligning with the university’s mission, ideals and values. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Northeastern honors top graduate students with launch of Laurel and Scroll 100 Society

04.15.2025
Eli Curwin sits at his laptop

From City Hall to Congress, Northeastern co-op student finds his voice on Mayor Wu’s speechwriting team

04.15.2025
President Donald Trump, left, greets Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, outside the White House on Monday, April 14, 2025.

Did Donald Trump defy a Supreme Court order to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

04.15.25
All Stories