WSJ.com reports that new moms in the United States are cutting down on their maternity leaves as the economy slips. MomCorps, a staffing company which helps mothers find flexible working jobs, noticed that their members have increased the number of hours they are willing to work now. This has resulted in new moms choosing to increase their work hours from their earlier average of 20-25 hours a week to 30-40 hours per week now. The traffic on their website has risen by 79% over the last year and the resume writing service is twice as busy. In an online survey of Cafemom.com, 16% of respondents said that the downturn was the reason that led them to look towards longer work hours now.
