Market Watch had an interesting headline the other day:

This Common Career Move Could Cost You $500,000

What is the common career move? It's taking time off from the workplace, which many people find worthwhile, despite the financial hit.

Market Watch explains:

Taking a breather from your job, even just for a few years, could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars — and that’s over and above what you lose out on by not drawing a salary.

Each year, thousands of Americans decide to take a break from their jobs: Nearly four in 10 women and 24% of men had taken time off from their career voluntarily, according to a survey of more than 3,000 people published by the Harvard Business Review and conducted by polling firm Harris Interactive.

One of the most common reasons for doing so — particularly for women — is to care for a child or elderly parent. A survey by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Pew Research Center found that 39% of mothers and 24% of fathers had taken a “significant” amount of time off to care for a child or another family member.

But whatever the reason, one thing is clear: It can easily cost a worker hundreds of thousands of dollars to take even a few years off, according to an analysis released this week by the nonpartisan policy institute Center for American Progress (CAP).

The Center for American Progress is a Washington think tank with close ties to the Obama administration. What made these finding so interesting is that it is CAP's acknowledgement that the gender wage gap is based not, as progressives like to argue, on discrimination but on the choices women make.

But the study also fails to highlight an important aspect of taking time off: it's a choice and some women (and men) prefer to make. Having more time to spend with young children balances out the added income.   

I would not be surprised if these findings are used to justify more government intrusion into the workplace. Or maybe the findings could be used to justify government-run day care?

The idea that people make choices and live with the consequences is an alien idea to progressives.