Half of American parents feel overwhelmed with their current responsibilities

The increased responsibility of parenting while schools are closed has led to burnout as parents express an overwhelming sense of struggle.

Working mothers are hit the hardest as they find themselves juggling work, household chores and childcare responsibilities during the pandemic

Over half (52%) of parents in the US currently feel overwhelmed with their responsibilities, our new data shows. In fact, around one in three parents said their work-life balance has been hit hard since the Covid-19 pandemic started, no doubt due to the additional pressures of changing working style, home upkeep, and childcare. Interestingly, parents with an annual income of $100K and above are more likely to be overwhelmed than parents earning less – perhaps they may previously have been able to afford additional external support with schooling or around the home, but have had to take on more during lockdown.

This burnout and inability to juggle extra on top of their day to day responsibilities has led to 10% of parents voluntarily leaving their jobs to take care of their kids. On top of those voluntary leavers, our data shows that an additional 14% have lost their jobs – a level not seen since The Great Depression. Among the parents that are still working, one-third have suffered pay-cuts. The impact of COVID-19 on job loss is much higher among BIPOC. Only 10% of White parents lost their jobs during the pandemic compared to 29% and 21% among African American and Hispanic parents, respectively.

Working mothers are hit the hardest as they find themselves juggling work, household chores and childcare responsibilities during the pandemic. The shift to remote learning typically requires at least one parent to focus on the child’s academic needs. Just over one-third (36%) of parents have kids currently learning from home, and more working mothers (38%) are responsible for facilitating their learning compared to 23% of working fathers.

The responsibility of general childcare during the pandemic is significantly higher among working American women (37%) compared to working American men (21%), regardless of the other pressures that mothers have. Like childcare, working mothers also bear the brunt of household work, as 5o% claim to be responsible for more than half of the household chores, which is significantly higher compared to working fathers (34%).

Though more than half (54%) feel that their job is equally as important as their counterparts’, there are more men (38%) that feel their jobs are more critical than their partner’s job; whereas only 6% of mothers would say that their job is more important than their partners’.

The pandemic has certainly been a struggle for working parents who have been forced to spin multiple plates over the past 7 months. Four in ten (42%) say they feel they have had very little time to themselves recently, with school, work and chores taking up most of their time.

However, as some schools across the US begin to reopen, and offices start to reintroduce on-site working, perhaps working parents will start to regain some of their independence and claw back some crucial time for themselves.

To find out more about this research, please get in touch.