Study: Working mothers hard hit by pandemic-related child care burdens GRACE BARBIC Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – New research shows pandemic-related child care burdens have magnified economic inequalities for women in the workforce in Illinois. That research was included in The Child Care Crisis in Illinois: A Survey of Working Mothers During the COVID-19 Pandemic, conducted by the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute nonprofit research organization. A data review in that report showed the workforce participation rate among women hit its lowest level in more than three decades in January 2021, at 57 percent nationally.