CATHERINE RAMPELL of The New York Times reported yesterday that almost four million women left the labor force in November:

Typically when we think of workers dropping out of the labor market these days, we think of workers who have been unemployed for a while and have simply given up looking for a job. But last month, almost all of the net loss of women from the labor force was accounted for by women who had jobs right before they dropped out. [emphasis added]

But Rampell cautions:

Now the numbers are volatile, so take this with a grain of salt. We also do not know why so many women left their jobs to drop out of the labor force. Probably some of them were going on maternity leave, and some quit their jobs for other reasons. 

This is mysterious. Strange and perplexing. Why would any woman in her right mind leave a job? What else could she possibly do? We will have to await further analysis. There must be some new lethal form of discrimination afoot.

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