Here are the specifics of this “troubling trend,” as summarized by one editor: “Labor-force participation among Black mothers with young children has fallen to a 31-year low.” According to that same article, “After being hit disproportionately by cuts to federal employment and to diversity programs, many are having a harder time finding new work.”

But the last line is misleading.

The unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, has fallen over the past three months for prime-age black mothers, 25-54, with young children, down to 5.1%. That is, black mothers who are seeking a job are more likely to have a job than at any time in the past year, and more than in most months since before the pandemic.

What’s down is the labor-force participation rate among prime-aged married black mothers. “Labor force participation alack mothers aged 25-54 with children under 5 has fallen 11.5 percentage points in just three months.”

Bloomberg, citing a race-and-equity expert, dives deeper: “Married, college-educated Black moms in particular have seen a decline in participation, likely because they can rely on a partner’s income. … Participation among their never-married peers, by contrast, has actually increased in recent months, she found.”

Every single normal person would think this is good: Single black women have jobs. Black mothers seeking jobs are getting jobs. Married black mothers with college degrees are 10% more likely to exit the workforce and spend time with their babies and toddlers.

What could cause someone to think this is bad?

Girlboss feminism, for one, says it’s a tragedy every time a woman chooses her husband and child over her boss and her clients. Some green-eyed-shade econ-types hate anything that could subtract from the GDP, such as walks with one’s toddler or homemade meals.

These feminist and workist mindsets are minority mindsets, except in the media and among Democratic politicians.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who not too long ago lamented the “Two Income Trap,” now calls stay-at-home moms women who “got knocked off track.” Washington Post columnist Helaine Olen wrote in 2021, “A lousy myth about moms, kids and work makes a comeback.” The myth: “that many of these women are better off for cutting their (paid) work hours and downscaling their professional aspirations in favor of tending to family responsibilities.”

Meanwhile, real America sees things differently.

A recent YouGov poll would send shockwaves through any Democratic congressional office or big-city newsroom. Pollsters asked 867 women, “If either option were available, would you pursue a career outside the home or stay home to care for your family?” The answers were split evenly, with 43% choosing career and 43% choosing family. Keep in mind, this sample includes women who do not have children, women whose children are grown, women who are 18 and not even considering marriage, much less motherhood.

Two-thirds of parents say their ideal childcare situation is Mom, Dad, or both taking time off work to watch the kids, according to a recent survey from New America Foundation. Only 20% preferred formal daycare or a nanny.

Narrow it down to mothers of young children, and it’s pretty lopsided. One recent poll of mothers with children 5 and under shows that only about 40% of them say they want to work a full-time paid job. Meanwhile, about 75% of mothers with young children do work full-time.

WHAT IS POST-LIBERALISM, AND WHY IS IT TRENDING?

Democrats and reporters will insist that women mostly choose to stay home because they cannot find high-quality, low-cost daycare, but there’s no evidence for that. Repeated studies over the past two decades have found that introducing no-cost, reliable daycare does not induce married mothers into the workforce.

So those black married mothers opting out of the workforce are not, the evidence suggests, being “knocked off track” by “workplace inequity.” They are choosing to be mothers and wives first. It’s hard to understand why anyone has a problem with that.