Overview
Supporting Employee Child Care Needs Boosts the Economy, Leads to Better Health and Well-being for Children and Families
Access to stable, high-quality early care and education is crucial to ensure children develop on track and are prepared for school and life success. Yet working families in every county are struggling to find child care, and even when care is available, it’s often unaffordable.
Amount of the total yearly income a low-income parent spends on child care for one baby
- Every county in North Carolina is considered an infant and toddler child care desert, meaning there are five or more children for every one space available in a high-quality program. Footnote # 1
- The supply of high-quality child care in North Carolina does not meet the demand. As of 2022, licensed child care programs in the state only had space for 27% of infants and toddlers with working parents, an issue that impacts both rural and metropolitan areas. Footnote # 2
- Widespread shortages and high turnover among child care teachers - primarily due to low compensation and lack of benefits - decrease the availability of child care for working parents and impact stability for young children. Footnote # 3
- Child care for two children—an infant and a 4-year-old—costs families an average of $17,593 per year. That’s 41% more than average rent in North Carolina. Footnote # 4
When parents and caregivers can’t find care, it impacts business and the economy:
- A lack of affordable, accessible, and high-quality child care often forces parents—particularly mothers—to leave the workforce, reduce their paid work hours, or pass up promotions or professional development opportunities. Footnote # 5
- Maternal labor force participation rate is three percent lower in areas that are child care deserts than those that have adequate child care.Footnote # 6
caregivers of children 5 and younger have cut hours, taken unpaid leave, left a job, or held off a job search because of child care.
- Pre-pandemic, annual losses from inadequate child care cost NC families, businesses and the economy $2.4 billion a year.Footnote # 7 Now, that number is up to $5.65 billion. Footnote # 8
- College students who are parents of young children face additional challenges when trying to further their education, which can increase prospects for more employment opportunities. A student parent would need to work 52 hours per week, on average, to cover child care and tuition costs at a four-year public college or university in the U.S.Footnote # 9
We’re in a double bind, and this crisis isn’t going to go away. But the good news is that we can start to solve it today.
Employers play an important role in addressing child care needs for their employees.
Half of American women who are not in the labor force say that caring for children is the main reason they’re not working. Of those women, 86 percent said that the high cost of child care was a factor in their consideration about whether to enter or return to the workforce. Footnote # 10
Percentage of all U.S. employees that had access to child care through employer in 2023.
Yet, in 2023, only 12 percent of all U.S. employers had access to child care through their employer. Low-wage workers, who often have the greatest difficulty finding and paying for high quality child care, are less likely to receive child care benefits at work. Only six percent of workers whose wages were in the bottom 10 percent had access to any child care benefit in 2021. More than eight in 10 working parents say they wish their employer offered some sort of child care benefit.
The United States spends less on child care than almost every other developed nation.
The U.S. spends roughly $500 a year per child on early childhood care, compared to more than $14,000 for the average OECD country. Footnote # 11
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that affordable care should cost no more than seven percent of a family’s total income. By this standard, only 12.4% of North Carolina families can afford infant care. A parent earning minimum wage would spend nearly two-thirds of their annual income on child care.Footnote # 12