Recent data has shown that people are feeling more confident about starting families, reversing the downward trend that began at the pandemic's early days, said Bloomberg. 

In May, Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals that the number of births in the United States dropped by 4 percent last year to 3.6 million, the lowest it's been since 1979. 

At first glance, this may seem counterintuitive, given the large numbers of couples who were in lockdown together with not much else to do, but it tracks with previous estimates that predicted that the pandemic would create not a baby boom, but a baby bust. Yes, there was an abundance of free time, but there was also a great deal of economic hardship and emotional anxiety, neither of which are conducive to a healthy love life. In general, it has been found that increases in unemployment are associated with decreases in the birth rates. Simply stated, children need a lot of time and a lot of money, and so when the economy's bad, people put off having them. 

In some states at least (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Ohio and Oregon) rates have bounced back to their pre-pandemic levels now. Bloomberg noted that other states, like New York and New Jersey, have yet to report their data, but if their reports are similar to the ones already out, it will show the COVID baby bust has bottomed out and births are once more recovering.