The continuing lack of access to
high-quality and affordable child care has more than doubled its blow to the
U.S. economy over the last five years, now costing $122 billion in lost
earnings, productivity and revenue every year.
The top-line finding comes in a new
assessment of the economic havoc wreaked by lack of child care from
ReadyNation, a coalition of business executives focused on building a skilled
workforce. The new total is $65 billion more annually than when the
organization performed the assessments in 2018, prior to the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Almost two-thirds of parents of infants
and toddlers facing child care struggles reported being late for work or
leaving work early, and more than half reported being distracted at work or
missing full days of work,” wrote Sandra Bishop, ReadyNation’s chief research
officer and author of the report. “An overwhelming 85 percent of primary
caregivers said problems with child care hurt their efforts or time commitment
at work.”
The report outlines a multipronged blow to
the economy – with families losing $78 billion per year in forgone earnings and
job search expenses, employers losing $23 billion annually due to child care
challenges faced by their workforce, and taxpayers losing $21 billion each year
in lower federal, state and local tax revenue.
The country’s child care and early learning
crisis existed long before centers began closing due to the coronavirus and has
since been all but gutted nearly three years into the pandemic.
