With its high cost of living and high property taxes, most New Jersey families need everybody working in order to pay the bills. According to a recent study by WalletHub, New Jersey is one of the best states in America for working moms.
Lots of jobs, quality daycare, opportunities, workplace equity, and pay for working moms in New Jersey make for the state to fare better than 42 other states.
On the list, New Jersey finished as the 8th best state in the country for working moms.
Despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and 73% of moms with children under age 18 being employed in 2022, working moms still face significant inequality in the workplace.
A recent study by personal finance website WalletHub has highlighted this issue by comparing state dynamics across 17 key metrics to identify the Best & Worst States for Working Moms.
New Jersey finished
One of the most striking findings of the study is that the average hourly wage of working moms is only 82% of what men make, highlighting a significant gender pay gap. Furthermore, only 8.2% of S&P 500 companies’ chief executives are women, indicating a lack of female representation in leadership positions.
The study also found that parental leave policies and legal support systems for working moms vary significantly by state, as does the quality of infrastructure such as cost-effective day care and public schools. This makes it difficult for working moms to balance work and family responsibilities, and further highlights the need for systemic change to support working moms across the country.
The Best & Worst States for Working Moms were determined based on factors such as child care costs, access to pediatric services, parental leave policies, gender pay gap, and percentage of families in poverty. The top states for working moms were Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont, while the worst were Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
While progress towards supporting working moms is being made, the WalletHub study shows that there is still a long way to go to ensure that all working moms have equal opportunities and support across the country. It is important that policymakers and employers take action to address these issues and support this underappreciated segment of the population.
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