Exclusive: Pandemic Could Cost Typical American Woman Nearly $600,000 in Lifetime Income
By Emily Peck
Photo Illustration by Newsweek; Source Images Getty
New signs of the nation s expanding recovery from the pandemic crop up every day, but for millions of women in the U.S. the economic punch of COVID may never be over. Long after the face masks have been tucked away and the kids are back in school full-time, after offices reopen, jobs are regained and life returns to some semblance of normalcy, the financial fallout of the past 15 months will continue to trail these women likely, for the rest of their working lives and throughout retirement.
Once the 2020 academic year began and the school where she worked as an art teacher was asking staff to come in four days a week, Galloway resident Susan Coll-Guedes had no choice but to resign from her position in November so she could stay home with her kids who were getting their schooling remotely. I want to work. It hurts me having to make that choice, Coll-Guedes said.
While still employed with the school, the mother of three had no idea she was eligible for federal benefits under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act specifically two weeks of sick leave at two-thirds pay for her exact situation.