The sharp rise during the pandemic in young people who are neither in school nor working—often referred to as “opportunity youth”—is the exacerbation of a problem that has gradually worsened in the past two decades.

Years before the term “she-cession” became part of our national lexicon, the number of businesses owned by women was growing at a rate more than twice that of all businesses. Despite their increasing importance to the economy, women-owned firms were less likely than firms owned by men to be financially healthy heading into the COVID-19 economic crisis.

Social scientists have found in some instances that safety-net programs sometimes reduce recipients’ incentive to work and thereby provide a headwind to U.S. economic growth.