The Workforce Is Shifting – and Women Are Feeling It First

Over the past year, women have been leaving the workforce at higher rates than men. That trend cuts across industries, education levels, and family structures, but it is not evenly distributed.

Economic uncertainty, job losses in sectors where women are highly represented, rising childcare costs, and reduced workplace flexibility are converging at once. Historically, when labor markets tighten, women – particularly women of color – experience the impact first.

At the Atlanta Women’s Foundation (AWF), we view workforce trends not as isolated economic indicators, but as early warning signs for family stability, mental health, and long-term outcomes for women and girls.

Women Overall: Progress at Risk

Women make up roughly half of the U.S. workforce and play a central role in household and community stability. Yet recent labor data shows women accounted for nearly all net job losses at the end of 2025, while men continued to enter the workforce at higher rates.

AWF’s research highlights why these shifts are so consequential locally. Across metro Atlanta, the cost of living now exceeds average household income in every county, putting pressure on families even before a job loss occurs.

Several factors are driving this trend:

• Childcare costs that rival or exceed housing costs, forcing families to make impossible tradeoffs⁺
• Reduced workplace flexibility for caregivers as more employers return to fixed schedules
• Job losses in public-sector, education, healthcare, and nonprofit roles, where women are disproportionately represented
• Fewer structural supports that help women stay attached to work during periods of transition

These forces do not reflect a lack of ambition or desire to work. They reflect systems that have not kept pace with the realities of caregiving, cost of living, and family responsibility.

A Disproportionate Impact on Black Women

While women across racial and ethnic groups are experiencing economic pressure, Black women are facing the most severe consequences.

In 2025, Black women’s unemployment rose to 7.3%, a level comparable to what white women experienced during the worst moments of the Great Recession. Historically, Black women’s unemployment has tracked at roughly twice the rate of white women, regardless of economic conditions. Today’s spike is not new; it reflects long-standing inequities becoming more visible under economic strain.

AWF’s research helps explain why these workforce shifts are so destabilizing locally. More than one in four single mothers in metro Atlanta lives below the poverty line, and Black women are more likely to serve as both primary earners and caregivers in their households.

Several structural factors contribute to this disparity:

1. Loss of Stable Employment Sectors
   Black women are more likely to work in roles that historically offered stability, benefits, and predictable hours. Recent workforce reductions in these sectors have disproportionately affected women who rely on steady income to support families.
2. Fewer Workplace Safeguards
   Changes in organizational priorities and role structures have reduced transparency and consistency in hiring, promotion, and retention, making it harder for experienced workers to navigate career transitions equitably.
3. Caregiving Realities
   Flexible schedules and remote work are often essential for caregivers, not optional. As flexibility declines, many women face untenable choices between employment and family responsibility.

The result is longer periods of unemployment, fewer re-entry opportunities, and increased financial precarity – conditions that ripple through families and communities.

Latina and Hispanic Women: Growing Vulnerability

AWF’s research also shows that Latina and Hispanic women in metro Atlanta face elevated barriers to economic stability, including lower wages and a widening gender pay gap – the largest among Latinas.

In today’s climate, these vulnerabilities are intensifying. Rising costs, childcare instability, and job losses in service and caregiving industries – fields with high Latina representation – are compounding financial strain for families with limited margin for disruption.

Analysis from the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute further underscores that economic opportunity in Georgia remains deeply connected to race, gender, and geography – factors that shape access to stable work, benefits, and long-term security.

Economic instability does not affect communities in isolation – it compounds across race, ethnicity, income, and caregiving roles, deepening inequities over time. Recognizing these intersections is critical to designing effective solutions.

Why Workforce Instability Is a Mental Health Issue

Economic stress is one of the strongest predictors of poor mental health for women and girls.

Job loss and instability are associated with:

• Increased anxiety, depression, and chronic stress
• Disrupted access to healthcare and mental health services
• Higher risk of housing and food insecurity
• Negative impacts on children’s emotional wellbeing and academic outcomes

AWF’s research shows these effects begin early. Nearly 60% of girls surveyed reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and economic stress within households is a significant contributing factor.

Preliminary findings from AWF’s upcoming mental health research reinforce this connection, pointing to economic stress as a primary driver of mental health challenges for women caregivers. This is why workforce trends and mental health outcomes cannot be viewed separately, and why prevention before crisis matters.

Why Helping Women and Mothers Helps Everyone

Supporting women, especially mothers and caregivers, is not a niche issue. It is foundational to economic and community stability.

Mothers are often primary decision-makers for household spending, education, healthcare, and housing. When women experience job instability, the effects are felt across families, schools, workplaces, and local economies.

As Moms First recently noted, when systems fail to support caregivers, women are not opting out of work – work is leaving women. That dynamic weakens the workforce, strains families, and carries long-term costs for communities and the economy as a whole.

AWF’s research consistently shows that:

• Children’s mental health and educational outcomes are closely tied to household stability⁺
• Economic stress on caregivers increases demand for crisis services downstream
• Preventive investment reduces long-term public and community costs

When women are stable, families are more secure. When families are secure, communities are stronger. The benefits extend far beyond any single household.

What AWF Is Focused On

As a funder, educator, and connector, AWF invests where data and lived experience intersect.

Our research-driven approach prioritizes:

• Economic stability for women caregivers
• Mental health and wellbeing for women and girls
• Two-Generation strategies that recognize families as interconnected systems
• Girls’ empowerment and emotional resilience, knowing stability at home shapes outcomes for life

Rather than short-term fixes, we focus on long-term, flexible investment that allows nonprofit partners to respond to changing conditions and growing needs.

Why Giving Is Especially Urgent Right Now

Periods of economic uncertainty place increased strain on nonprofit organizations, often at the same moment demand for services rises.

Flexible philanthropic investment allows trusted community partners to:

• Stabilize families before crises escalate
• Support caregivers navigating job loss and economic stress
• Protect mental health and educational outcomes for girls

When economic systems falter, philanthropy can provide the stability families need to endure and recover.

This Moment Is a Choice

History shows these outcomes are not inevitable.

When families have access to affordable childcare, flexible work environments, and stable income, women remain in the workforce. Mental health improves. Children thrive.

At AWF, we believe that strengthening women strengthens families, which in turn strengthens entire communities.

We invite you to join us in this work. Your support not only fuels our research but also strengthens partnerships with local organizations – creating meaningful, lasting change for women and girls across metro Atlanta.
→ Give today

 

⁺Preliminary findings from AWF’s forthcoming 2026 mental health research conducted by Advantage Consulting.