Georgia named one of the worst states for working Moms
It’s a good thing there’s a whole day devoted to pampering mothers on Sunday.
Because here in Georgia, the other 364 days of the year pretty much bite for working moms.
That’s the unhappy conclusion of a new research study, which found Georgia is the ninth worth state for working mothers.
Analysts at personal finance web site WalletHub compared dynamics across 13 key metrics to come up with the Best & Worst States for Working Moms. Georgia finished No. 43 in the study, which also included Washington D.C.
The overall findings were dismal for working women everywhere.
“Women today comprise nearly half of the American workforce, and slightly less than three quarters of them are solo moms with young children,” they write. “Yet women still earn only $0.79 for every dollar that men make and have far less upward mobility.”
The findings are uniformly gloomy for working mothers in all types of jobs and at every income level here. Georgia ranked 49th in work-life balance (only working mothers in Washington D.C. and Maryland have it worse), 32nd in professional opportunities and 31st in child care.
One of the experts WalletHub consulted specifically fingered employers for dropping the ball when it came to child care.
“Companies must recognize that women and men need affordable and safe child care,” said Brenda J. Wrigley, chair of Emerson College’s Department of Marketing Communication. “They need to either have on-site child care or find a way to subsidize such services to keep quality employees from leaving.”
Vermont was ranked No. 1 overall for working mothers in the study whose authors found a distinct Red State/Blue State divice. The top ten ranked states all were located in the Northeast or Midwest. Among Southern states, Tennessee ranked best at No. 13, while four other Southern states joined Georgia in the bottom ten.
