“Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, suggested on Wednesday that improved child care support policies from the government might help pull more women into the labor market.

“The Fed chief studiously avoided commenting on specific government policy proposals during three hours of wide-ranging testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. But he did acknowledge, in response to a question, that enabling better options for affordable child-care is an ‘area worth looking at’ for Congress.

“ ‘Our peers, our competitors, advanced economy democracies, have a more built-up function for child care, and they wind up having substantially higher labor force participation for women,’ Mr. Powell said, answering a question from Representative Cindy Axne, an Iowa Democrat. ‘We used to lead the world in female labor force participation, a quarter-century ago, and we no longer do. It may just be that those policies have put us behind.’ ”

— “Powell Says Better Child Care Policies Might Lift Women in Work Force,” by Jeanna Smialek, The New York Times, February 24, 2021