Anne Louis quit her job in 2019 shortly after the birth of her son, who is autistic and has a tracheotomy, to give herself more time to co-ordinate his medical care. But after the Covid-19 crisis raised consumer prices as well as the prevalence of flexible working arrangements, Louis decided to go back to work. While her husband’s income had covered their basic costs, the addition of Louis’s salary would allow them to afford private school tuition and new medical treatments for their son. “I want to be able to provide for my son as well,” said Louis, who now works at a telecommunications company in New York. “But there’s also some solace in being able to [contribute] a little bit myself.” Louis is among a growing number of mothers in the US who began working or looking for jobs in the aftermath of the pandemic. In recent months, there have been more mothers in the workforce than at any time since the labour department began tracking them in 1948, according to an analysis of government labour market data.

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