Abstract
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has had a global reach, immigrant and racial-ethnic minority women have carried the burden of making ends meet while also being the primary caregivers of children and older adults in their families. This paper uses Detroit, Michigan as a case study to examine the links between the availability of family care resources and women’s labor force participation rates during the pandemic and their implications for the post-COVID era. We employ data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Detroit area community surveys, Michigan’s Licensing and Regulatory Affairs registry of licensed child and elder care facilities, and digital archives from the City of Detroit’s Department of Neighborhoods to assess these patterns. ArcGIS software was used to plot child care and elder care resources in seven racial-ethnic and immigrant communities in Detroit against 2020 labor force participation rates. Findings underscore low labor force participation rates across most neighborhoods, wide variations in available family care resources, and the presence of child care deserts. Results suggest that low labor force participation rates during the past two years of the pandemic were exacerbated by limited availability of neighborhood family care resources, underscoring the need for system reform.
Recommended Citation
Santiago, Anna Maria; Jones, Courtney M.; Cohen, Emily; Fall, Ava; and Rager, Nciole
(2022)
"Making Ends Meet: Differences in Neighborhood Family Care Resources in Detroit’s Ethnic-Racial Communities in the Post-COVID Era,"
The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development: Vol. 7:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/agsjournal/vol7/iss1/4