Cowan at Washington State University.ĭisturbances to child care operations can have long-lasting consequences on the labor supply and working parents’ careers, House said. Child care closures also disproportionately affected lower-income families, according to the research from Kairon Shayne D.
“You have your challenging and stressful days, but now you hear a kid cough this kid has a cold, and it’s no big deal, or we could be shutting down for 20 days.”Ī new academic working paper published earlier this month found that disruptions to school and child care services resulted in a reduction in parents’ hours worked. “It’s definitely different now than it was two, three years ago, from a provider’s perspective,” said Lisa Keller, who runs a home-based child care center in Horace, North Dakota. Increased health risks, ever-changing regulations and inflationary pressures have heightened concerns for child care providers.
“It’s a tough job in the best of times,” Sarah House, a Wells Fargo senior economist said, adding that “here we are in a pandemic.” The situation has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. “And now it’s really at a breaking point.” The child care industry was “barely getting by before the pandemic,” she said. “This is absolutely a contributor to the wider worker shortage that we’re seeing,” she added.Įvery time a classroom goes virtual, a child care center caps out on enrollment or a day care center closes, parents - typically mothers - can’t go to work, she explained. “Now that we’re seeing a decrease, that should be worrying for many folks who are relying on these services,” said Caitlin McLean, director of multi-state and international programs at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. The workforce reductions – coupled with ongoing challenges of low pay and spotty benefits for workers – have economists and policy experts sounding the alarm: If this industry falters further, it could spell trouble for the entire labor market as working parents scramble to find care for their kids. Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe/Getty Imagesĭaycares are shutting down and parents are 'tired of being tired'
0 kommentar(er)
