New Survey Of Parents Reveals COVID-19’s Disruptive Impact On Child Care

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) recently released results of a survey it conducted with Morning Consult on how COVID-19 affected child care arrangements and needs of parents across the country. Citing parents’ urgent need for accessible child care services and the devastating effects the pandemic has brought upon the child care industry, BPC explained how sustaining quality child care programs is critical to our long-term economic recovery.

The survey, which reached 1,000 parents of young children under age five, concluded that 44% of parents found the lack of child care resources a barrier to their remote or in-person work. Additionally, more than half of the parents who have sought child care during the pandemic found it difficult to find quality care that falls within their budget. These parents’ struggle to find affordable care for their young children results from the fact that over 70% of child care programs either closed permanently or are now operating at reduced capacity or hours.

Other notable conclusions from the survey include:

While some parents have the option to work remotely, 22% of parents cannot return to work in person without child care.
Finding care was especially challenging for those with lower incomes, with 72% of parents with an income less than $50,000 expressing some degree of difficulty.
Over three-fourths of parents (77%) are concerned that returning their children to a child care program will increase the risk of exposing their family to COVID-19.

You can read the full survey results and BPC’s analysis here.

NEW ANALYSIS: Lack of Child Care Impacting Millennial Women Most

A new Center for American Progress analysis of Census Bureau data reveals a growing crisis that will devastate working women as our nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the research released this week, Millennial mothers, who make up the majority of the paid labor force in America, are nearly three times more likely than Millennial fathers to report being unable to work due to COVID-19 related school or child care closures. This not only causes personal financial challenges for women and families, but also has widespread consequences for our nation’s long-term economic recovery.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Millennial parents struggled to balance working from home while caring for and educating their children at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, while millions of others were forced to reduce their hours at work and reduce their expenses. Child care providers were forced to close for an indeterminate amount of time, leaving essential workers — who are disproportionately women of color — to struggle to find safe, available child care for their children.

According to the data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, beginning in April, the number of parents citing child care closures as the main reason for being unable to return to work began increasing to a peak of 38 percent for Millennial mothers in late June and early July, before slightly declining. More than one- third of nonworking Millennial mothers reported “caring for children not in school or [child] care” as their main reason for not working. Millennial fathers on the other hand were nearly three times less likely to choose the lack of child care as their main reason for not working. It is clear that child care responsibilities and the lack of child care availability in America during and after this pandemic are having a negative impact on Millennial mothers’ participation in the labor force, with compounding effects as the pandemic continues.

Research shows that leaving the workforce for even a couple of years impacts a woman’s lifetime earnings, and the growing child care crisis caused by COVID-19 will only exacerbate the gender earnings gap for years to come if we allow the child care industry to collapse. Without a significant investment in child care providers, an estimated 4.5 million licensed child care slots will be permanently lost and working parents will be left with few options as they return to work. Without child care, our economic recovery will be incomplete and working parents — especially mothers — may never fully recover.

Read the full report from the Center for American Progress here.

Working from Home Is Hard. Things Will Be Worse if Congress Lets the Child Care Industry Collapse.

Can You Work from Home with Your Kids Indefinitely?
Parents across the country are struggling to balance full-time work with full-time parenting. But the situation will be far worse if Congress fails to prevent the #childcare industry from collapsing. Experts predict half of the nation’s child care supply will disappear with significant financial relief, leaving parents without options as they’re expected to return to the workplace. Tell Congress to #savechildcare.
Posted by Child Care Relief on Monday, August 3, 2020

Parents across the country are struggling trying to balance full-time work and full-time parenting.

But the situation will be far worse if Congress fails to prevent the #childcare industry from collapsing.

Experts predict half of the nation’s child care supply will disappear with significant financial relief, leaving parents without options as they’re expected to return to the workplace.

Both the House and Senate have proposals to include stabilization funding for the child care industry in the COVID-19 recovery package. There is clear agreement among Republicans and Democrats that the success of America’s economic recovery will be contingent on whether child care providers receive the emergency financial relief they need to stay in business.

None of that matters if Congressional leaders and the White House don’t prioritize child care relief in their final negotiations. Take action!

We’ve reached a make or break moment, and we need your help to make sure your lawmakers are prioritizing child care with House and Senate leadership.

Here’s what we know:

The Senate Republican HEALS Act would provide $15 billion for the child care industry;
And the House passed the Child Care Is Essential Act with bipartisan support, which would provide $50 billion in child care stabilization funding;

But at the end of the day, if Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, and the White House don’t include stabilization funding levels that will keep America’s child care providers in business in the final bill, experts predict half of America’s child care supply will disappear.

Contact your representatives in the House and Senate and ask them to do everything possible in these final hours of negotiation to ensure this relief package includes significant funding to actually save child care before it’s too late.

TAKE ACTION TO #SAVECHILDCARE:

U.S. Chamber Foundation Survey Shows Employers See America’s Child Care Challenges as a Major Hurdle to Recovery

The COVID-19 public health crisis has rapidly shifted how we do business. Seemingly overnight, employers adapted the workplace to keep their employees healthy and follow public health guidance. Video communication was implemented, commutes changed, and working parents faced the reality of full-time childcare and full-time work. Many businesses moved all or part of their workforce to remote work, some were forced to closed operations, and still others were deemed essential. Businesses of every size and industry have been impacted by this pandemic, so employers have had to figure out how to operate a business in an entirely new landscape.

Prior to the pandemic, limited access to affordable, high-quality childcare had significant recruitment and retention costs for employers. As childcare programs have closed or are operating at limited capacity, the impact of this lack of childcare options on employers is even greater. In the fall of 2019, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation conducted a series of surveys, which led to the creation of four reports, referred to as Untapped Potential, to better understand how childcare challenges affect parents’ participation in the workforce, affect employers’ ability to recruit and retain skilled workers, and impact state economies.

Now, several months after this study, working parents are facing new, complicated childcare challenges caused by COVID-19. Parents are trying balance their dual roles with limited to no access to formal childcare or family, friend, or neighbors to help, making childcare an important need for every employer and state to prioritize in their return to work plans.

With that in mind, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has launched a new longitudinal study to understand how childcare challenges affect working parents and their employers in the unprecedented times of COVID-19.

Click here to see the survey findings:

CONTACT CONGRESS: Time is Running Out to #SaveChildCare

Leaders from Capitol Hill and the White House are finalizing the details of the COVID-19 recovery bill, and we need your help to ensure there is enough emergency funding to #savechildcare.

None of that matters if Congressional leaders and the White House don’t prioritize child care relief in their final negotiations. Take action!

We’ve reached a make or break moment, and we need your help to make sure your lawmakers are prioritizing child care with House and Senate leadership.

Here’s what we know:

The Senate Republican HEALS Act would provide $15 billion for the child care industry;
And the House passed the Child Care Is Essential Act with bipartisan support, which would provide $50 billion in child care stabilization funding;