Last year’s enforced idleness and economic slowdown surely pushed many families into a one-earner status — even if unwillingly. It’s not unreasonable to assume that some liked the subsequent work-life balance. Rather than struggle to care for children and satisfy bosses, not to mention carve out time for one another, some couples surely found that they could make do with one wage and have a better quality of life.

It wouldn’t take many people to decide this to throw the labor market out of whack. Government data show that the overall labor force participation rate is down from a pre-pandemic 63.4 percent to 61.6 percent today. That seemingly small 1.8 percentage point drop is the equivalent of about 5 million people. That’s slightly larger than the 4.2 million fewer jobs available today compared with February 2020. Suppose only 1 percent of the pre-pandemic labor force decided to embrace a one-earner lifestyle. That would reduce the labor force by 1.6 million people, explaining roughly one-third of the total labor force drop and more than 40 percent of the employment gap.

Such a shift in attitudes would likely surprise policy elites. Today, the two-income family is the norm rather than the exception. The college-educated are likelier to say their job is a career than the non-college-educated, a statement that surely makes them less likely to understand people who think otherwise. That drive is partly why they are in the policymaking elite to begin with; one doesn’t get near the top without such traits. But that does not describe the majority of Americans, who tend to rate family or other pursuits as more important.