“Even after controlling for a lot of factors,” says Cai, the CEPR data shows “parents with kids under six present at home have a higher likelihood to be self-employed”. This was especially true among lower-earning women and those without a college education. As she explains, low-wage workers faced the most difficulty keeping positions during the pandemic because those jobs were the most unpredictable. “Some of those hourly workers faced involuntary volatile working hours,” Cai says. “The employer might demand more hours or cut them without much advance notice.”
