By Claire Cain Miller, The New York Times, August 9, 2021
Brianna McCain left her job as an office manager when the pandemic started, to care for her two young daughters. By last spring, she was ready to go back to work. But she hasn’t been able to, because her children are still at home.
She has been searching for a job with flexible hours and the ability to work from home, but these are hard to find, especially for new hires and for hourly workers. She can’t take an in-person job until school opens for her 6-year-old, and her district, in Portland, Ore., has not announced its plans. She also needs child care for her 2-year-old that costs less than she earns, but child care availability is far below prepandemic levels, and prices have increased to cover the costs of Covid safety measures.
“When you’re getting into a new job especially, there isn’t flexibility,” said Ms. McCain, whose partner, a warehouse worker, cannot work from home. “And with the unknowns of Covid, I don’t know if my kid’s going to get pulled out of school for a quarantine or school’s going to stop.”
Comments (0)