Summit focuses on importance of child care in workforce

May 10—The importance of early childhood development and the need to access affordable and quality child care was the focus of a two and a half hour summit conference on Tuesday morning that featured pediatrics experts and business leaders.

The summit, presented over Zoom, was offered by the Early Learning Investment Commission. The first half of the summit focused on the scientific research showing how attention to child development is the foundation of all future behavior and mental health. During the second half, stakeholders in the business and workforce community explained how critical access to affordable child care is to both families, the workforce, and a business' bottom line, when hiring and retaining employees with young children.

Pediatrician Jack Shonkoff explained how early experiences affect the brain.

"The science is clear: The first two to three years of life are critical to a child's development and will also lead to savings in later life health care," Shonkoff said.

Child care is a two-generation issue, said Cheryl Oldham, vice president of Educational Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Child care is a critical foundation for young children, but also an important support for those young children's parents, which allows them to go to work every day."

The issue of child care as a work support has grown in prominence throughout the pandemic, Oldham said.

The loss to local economies when child care breaks down is significant, she said.

"Our research showed that child care is an urgent necessity for Americans across the socio-economic background and businesses of all sizes," she said. "Every region is feeling the ramifications of the child care crisis. and parents across the country are struggling to find care that is quality, is affordable and meets their needs."

This was an issue before the pandemic and has only gotten worse over the last couple of years.

U.S. Chamber research shows that lack of child care options limits the ability to recruit and retain quality qualified workers, Oldham reported.

"Today, this couldn't be more important," she said. "When the business community is facing workforce shortages they need every advantage in hiring."

The most recent numbers from the Department of Labor shows five million more jobs than people in the labor market. The worker availability ratio is the lowest it's ever been, Oldham said.

There are two-thirds of a person available for every open job. "The inability to access child care is keeping parents, especially women, from joining or rejoining the workforce," she said.

In Pennsylvania, for example, there are 7,000 child care positions vacant.

Women are quitting jobs at higher rates than men, Dept. of Labor research indicates. In the first job reports in 2022, one million men entered the labor force compared to just 39,000 women.

"While not entirely related to child care, we know it is a big factor," Oldham said. "Child care remains very expensive."

Oldham offered the following suggestions for employers:

Survey employees and ask them what they need

Flexible hours and more structured shift scheduling for parents to address their children's needs

Vouchers or subsidizing child care

There are existing tax credits that can make the financial investment in child care more affordable for the business community. The Employer Provided Tax Credit is underused, suggested Oldham. Employers can claim 25 percent of expenses for creating in-house child care or contracting out with an existing child care provider.

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