A.J. Kaufman writes for PJMedia.com about the Biden administration’s approach to recent labor data.
Democrats have long wanted the government to parent or co-parent your children, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that President Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud Monday night.
“Nearly 2 million women in our country have been locked out of the workforce because they have to care for a child or an elderly relative at home.
“My Build Back Better Act will make caregiving accessible and affordable and help them get back to work.”
Is the administration upset that you might be spending too much time with your family? …
… Women or men who decided to stay home to care for their children or parents may have decided, after the pandemic and lockdowns, that they’d rather be with family than colleagues.
Some parents who stopped working to care for their children — thanks to teachers’ unions forcing school closures, while their members all got paid — may prefer to be back at work; but the Biden administration never acknowledges the likelihood that many parents freely chose to stay at home.
And then there are policies to encourage the current situation.
It’s very likely that the so-called expanded child tax credit, championed by the most ardent Democrats, allowed hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers to choose home life over work life. Is that good or bad?
Since everything is partisan politics for Democrats, the Biden administration cannot admit that some women who left the labor force chose — gasp — to be stay-at-home moms.
That’s because there is a pedantic, yet common belief on the political Left that mothers staying at home is some kind of deleterious blow to gender equality.
Nearly one-third of mothers said in 2019 that their preference is “not working for pay at all.” As the Biden administration considers these selfless people a problem, one of their answers also is to subsidize day care centers. But most parents dislike this. …