One thing we learned from the February jobs report is that women are continuing to return to the labor force.

Women’s participation declined sharply early in the pandemic, and the slow reopening of schools and childcare centers made it hard for many to return to work — at least full-time.

Women’s labor force participation is still lower than pre-pandemic, but it’s creeping up.

“We’re definitely seeing some progress over the past year — women rejoining the labor force,” said Jasmine Tucker at the National Women’s Law Center.

One factor limiting growth though, Tucker said, is childcare.

“There’s almost 60,000 fewer childcare workers than there were in February 2020, more people looking for affordable care than there are providers,” she said.

Quality care is costly, pay is low and many centers are under capacity, said Abby Copeman Petig at UC Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Childcare Employment. She knows this first-hand, with her four-year-old.

“My son’s childcare center is licensed officially to care for 204 children, but they only have teaching staff to support about 120 slots right now,” Copeman Petig said.

Her seven-year-old is in an after school program that’s also hard to staff. Those jobs last just two or three hours per day, and don’t pay very well, either.