Deandrea Rahming was apprehensive about going back to work after more than a decade out of the job market, but in the wake of the pandemic, she found employers eager to hire.
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Deandrea Rahming
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Topline:
In May, the share of working-age women between 25 and 54 who are working or looking for work hit 77.6% — an all-time high. Among African American women in that age range, more than 80% are in the workforce.
Why it matters: "Where are the workers going to come from?" asks Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan. "What we're seeing is they are showing up month after month to take the jobs, and in particular, it's women showing up to take the jobs."
The backstory: Women like Rahming are helping to keep the economy running, as well. With employers adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, and unemployment near a half-century low, the U.S. needs more people to come off the sidelines to keep the economy growing.
What's next: That experience, coupled with today's super tight job market, may have left employers more willing to accommodate workers who need extra flexibility. Winston says she used to have to persuade employers to give women who'd been out of the workforce a chance. Now, employers come to her, searching for untapped labor.
Deandrea Rahming was eager to go back to work when her youngest child started school, but after more than a decade of being out of the workforce, she wasn't certain employers would want her.
"I was very apprehensive," Rahming says. "With a woman, it's always, 'Do you have kids? Do you have daycare? Are you reliable?'"
When Rahming began looking for jobs in the wake of the pandemic, though, she found desperate employers who were eager to hire.
The extra income from the jobs she landed as a claims adjuster, and later an administrative assistant, were a welcome boost for her family's budget. But Rahming says the satisfaction that came from working was bigger than just a paycheck.
"I come from a very long line of modern women," Rahming says. "So going back and working and being able to fulfill that accomplishment, like, 'OK, Yeah. I can do this. I still can run with the best of them.'"
Women like Rahming are helping to keep the economy running, as well. With employers adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, and unemployment near a half-century low, the U.S. needs more people to come off the sidelines to keep the economy growing.
"Where are the workers going to come from?" asks Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan. "What we're seeing is they are showing up month after month to take the jobs, and in particular, it's women showing up to take the jobs."
A major boost to the economy
In May, the share of working-age women between 25 and 54 who are working or looking for work hit 77.6% — an all-time high. Among African American women in that age range, more than 80% are in the workforce.
That's a big turnaround from the early days of the pandemic, when millions of women lost jobs as restaurants and other in-person businesses were shuttered, and many more dropped out of the job market to look after children or ailing family members.
Economist Betsey Stevenson says in today's super-tight job market, employers are willing to offer workers more flexibility, which has made it easier for parents to join or rejoin the workforce.
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Betsey Stevenson
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Some worried the ranks of working women would be depressed for years. But women's participation in the workforce has actually rebounded from the pandemic more quickly than men's has.
Stevenson sees that as evidence that women are increasingly determined to play a major role in the economy. Just before the pandemic, women briefly outnumbered men on U.S. payrolls.
"This generation of women didn't just have a foot in the door. They had their whole body through," Stevenson says. "And even when they got pushed out, it's that long work experience, the long resumes, that helped them quickly return."
'Take a chance on more moms'
Stevenson remembers hearing from one working mom, who reluctantly quit working early in the pandemic, but took comfort in something Stevenson said on the radio.
"She didn't want to quit her job, but her kids didn't have in-person school. She couldn't think of any other solution, and she was driving home from having given her notice, bawling her eyes out, thinking I can't believe I've done this," Stevenson says. "And she said, 'you were on the radio, and you said when the pandemic's over, they'll go back to work.' And she said, 'I clung to those words for the whole year.'"
Stevenson's forecast has now come true.
Sudarshana Sharma spent the first year of the pandemic shepherding two young sons through at-home schooling — a process she describes as "suffocating."
Sudarshana Sharma (right, with husband Angshuman Goswami and sons Achintya and Sudipta) got a job with Grubhub after six years out of the workforce. She says if she were a hiring manager, she'd give working moms extra points for time management and multi-tasking skills.
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Courtesy of Sudarshana Sharma
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She was eager to return to work but worried her skills as a software engineer were rusty after six years as a stay-at-home mom. Luckily, she landed a "returnship" position as an engineer at Grubhub. The six-month temporary position evolved into a permanent job.
Sharma, whose sons are eight and five, says working moms have a lot to offer.
"I think you should take a chance on more moms," Sharma says with a chuckle. "We have time management skills. And multitasking."
Why employers are being more flexible
Sharma, who lives in California, is grateful that she's still able to work remotely. That allows her to be home in the afternoon when her older son, who has special needs, leaves school.
For working parents, there's nothing new about that kind of juggling act. But COVID made it more visible.
"The silver lining of the pandemic is that everyone started to understand the ways that caregiving and career intersect," says Christine Winston, who heads an organization called Path Forward that helps women return to the workforce. "Because everybody was at home with their five-year-old and their eight-year-old, doing school on Zoom."
That experience, coupled with today's super tight job market, may have left employers more willing to accommodate workers who need extra flexibility. Winston says she used to have to persuade employers to give women who'd been out of the workforce a chance. Now, employers come to her, searching for untapped labor.
"A lot more employers became aware that there was this huge pool of talent on the sidelines," Winston says.
Nonetheless, challenges remain
Of course, many of the problems that sidelined women before the pandemic have not gone away. There are fewer childcare workers today than there were before COVID-19 struck. And that shortage could grow worse when temporary federal subsidies expire this fall. Paid parental leave is also less common in the U.S. than in many other industrialized countries.
Still, economist Stevenson says employers have learned that offering workers more flexibility is not as costly as they might have thought.
"Workers have had a lot of bargaining power, not just for higher wages but to say, 'You know, I can't come in five days a week.' Or 'I've got to be able to pick my kids up from school and get them home, and then I can go back to working remotely," she says. "People learned to work around the child-care demands in the last few years. And that's actually been really helpful.
That could change if the job market softens and bosses become less willing to make allowances. But so long as the economy keeps adding jobs, employers will be on the lookout for more working women to help fill them.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 14: Max Muncy #13, Tommy Edman #25, Mookie Betts #50, Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers look on during a pitching change during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game three of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Sean M. Haffey
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
What happened: Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave the Brewers a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.
“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”
Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Milwaukee became the first major league club to complete a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason.
“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year. You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”
The Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in their only other World Series appearance, when Milwaukee played in the American League.
With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 before reliever Tanner Scott threw three straight balls for a full count. Mitchell’s 409-foot leadoff drive to center field — the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count — put the Brewers ahead for the first time. Mitchell also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.null
“I’ve always dreamt of moments like these as a kid,” Mitchell said.
The Brewers’ bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.
Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.
Ashby, who worked three scoreless innings for a save, struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out with Andy Pages at third to end the seventh. Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and was safe at third when the ball got away from Sal Frelick for an error before Ashby got Tucker to fly out and Teoscar Hernández to strike out.
The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.
Alex Vesia came in and promptly walked Brice Turang and William Contreras to load the bases. Vesia then walked NLCS MVP Jake Bauers with two outs to force in Hamilton with the tying run.
Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Turang walked, Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.
Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling and the crowd of 49,104 joined him in celebration.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published October 15, 2026 5:52 PM
The Henderson Fire sparked Thursday afternoon at Camp Pendleton.
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Alert California
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UC San Diego
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Topline:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway has been closed in both directions as a wildfire burns in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,100 acres as of 4:40 p.m.
What we know so far: The 5 Freeway was closed between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line. The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway was briefly closed in both directions due to a wildfire in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,118 acres as of 7 p.m.
CHP closed the 5 Freeway between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line, but began reopening the interstate just before 6 p.m.
The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The basics
Acreage: 1,118 acres as of Thursday afternoon
Containment: 0%
Structures destroyed: None reported
Deaths: None reported
Injuries: None reported
Evacuation orders
According to Cal Fire: "An evacuation order has been published for the Las Flores (41 Area). All affected personnel, please evacuate to Paige Field House, located in the 11 Area." A secondary evacuation point was set up at 21 Area gym, according to the Camp Pendleton Facebook page.
Road closures
5 Freeway between Basilone Road and Harbor Drive, but it was being reopened.
Listen to LAist's Big Burn podcast
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Destiny Torres
covers all things SoCal, from breaking news to local government, with a focus on Orange County.
Published October 15, 2026 4:19 PM
A Costa Mesa woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year for registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in two elections has had her case dismissed
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Tiffany Ujiiye
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LAist
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Topline:
A Costa Mesa woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year for registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in two elections has had her case dismissed, according to the district attorney’s office Thursday. She won’t serve time but will have to pay for four anti-voter fraud billboards that feature her dog’s image.
Background: Laura Lee Yourex, 64, was charged with five felonies in 2025 for illegally registering her dog and casting ballots on its behalf. Yourex was facing up to six years in prison. In April, Yourex pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of knowingly registering a “non-existent person to vote,” and the DA’s office dismissed the remaining four felony charges against her. LAist did not immediately hear from Yourex’s lawyer.
More on the billboards:As part of the plea deal, Yourex was required to pay $1,500 for four anti-voter fraud billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County for the Nov. 3 General Election. The billboards read, “Don’t be a dog. Voter Fraud is a Crime. If you can’t legally vote, don’t vote. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute.”
Laura Lee Yourex was required to pay $1,500 for four anti-voter fraud billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County.
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Courtesy of the OC District Attorney's Office.
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Why this matters: The dog incident comes at a time of heightened debate over voter ID. In the General Election, Californians will be asked whether to require voters to show proof of ID at polling places and provide identification numbers on mail-in ballots. Currently, voters only need to provide an ID and Social Security number when they register to vote.
Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period.
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Kelsey Knight
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Unsplash
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Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Listen
15:51
How California wineries are dealing with a high-end bottle surplus
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different brand label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
