The District may be facing slower growth, and any further increases in unemployment could disproportionately affect female residents with children in their households. Throughout 2025, the District’s resident unemployment rate has risen, reaching 6 percent in August, and this upward trend may continue, as recent growth and employment projections have not been particularly favorable.
Between 2010 and 2021, D.C. residents with adopted, biological, or stepchildren in their household generally—but not always—had higher unemployment rates than those without children in their household. But this pattern changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in 2021, D.C. residents without children experienced higher unemployment rates.
However, beneath the headline trends, the unemployment rates for male and female D.C. residents with children differ. Until 2021, female D.C. residents with children had higher unemployment rates than their female counterparts without children. In contrast, men with children consistently had lower unemployment rates than men without children
Additional analysis indicates that the differences extend to labor force participation rates: over the past decade, the participation rate of male residents with children has been noticeably higher than that of female residents with children. In 2023, for instance, the gap was roughly thirteen percentage points.
All in all, the data suggest that differences continue to exist in labor market outcomes between male and female residents with children in the District.
Data notes:
- ACS data was accessed via IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org
- Please note that ACS estimates are subject to sampling error, which can sometimes be non-trivial. To err on the side of caution, the authors focused on general trends rather than specific estimates.