Crisis in US daycare affects the entire economy

When Bryan Kang’s son was born in July, the occupational therapist and his wife, a teacher, began looking day care centers in Los Angeles. They called eight. Some had no vacancies for months, others no longer received calls or did not respond.

Unable to find daycare, Kang had to find a way to work from home.

“I told my boss, ‘I need to work from home by the end of the month.’ They supported me a lot, they understood me. They are all women. But they have one less person to see the patients, “he said.

Kang says he was lucky to have found a position as an online teacher. But he had to accept a cut in his salary of 11%.

The truth is, even if she got a daycare for her three-month-old, it would have cost about $ 2,500 a month. And when a person does not earn much, the most logical from a financial point of view is to work from home and take care of the child.

For years, in USA Nursery employees were paid little and a lot was charged for services. That pattern is no longer sustainable.

The coronavirus pandemic made clear something that many saw coming: Not having reliable and accessible childcare limits the jobs that parents can accept, hinders promotions at a company and ends up affecting economic growth.

“It is not a problem for women or boys. It is an economic issue. It affects labor force participation, ”said Mario Cardona, of the Child Care Aware of America organization. “It has to do with the bosses, with them not having to worry about whether they can count on their employees.”

Every teacher who quits, every exposure to the coronavirus, and every daycare closure reflects an industry on the brink of collapse, with serious implications for the workforce.

The crisis forced many people, especially women, to leave their jobs and makes the problem of childcare not only a family matter, but something that affects other sectors. It creates a shortage of employees, which affects businesses and makes it more difficult for people to access goods and services.

“The decisions we make now regarding access to childcare will affect the macroeconomy for decades, by influencing who returns to work and who does not, the type of jobs they take and the careers that parents can contemplate” said Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan.

President Joe Biden is willing to make an unprecedented investment to make childcare no longer a problem. In a recent presentation in Baltimore, he said parents “shouldn’t have to pay more than 7% of their income to daycare.” The government will take care of the rest if its proposal, included in a huge spending bill that is being negotiated in Congress, succeeds.

It remains to be seen what form the final project takes. But the future of daycare for children is at stake.

At Forever Young Daycare in Mountlake Terrace, a Seattle suburb, Amy McCoy is exhausted.

She has been trying to hire a new assistant for her home babysitting business for half a year. She works 50 hours a week looking after children, cooks, cleans and takes care of the administrative part of her business.

“To what extent is my business more important than my family?” McCoy asked.

An employee who had been working with her for five years and paid US $ 19 an hour quit in April because she got a job as a babysitter that paid her US $ 39 an hour. McCoy is offering $ 16 an hour – nearly 20% more than the state minimum wage – for an inexperienced employee. Few people were interested. Those who did said that the pay was very low.

“Nobody wants to work for what I can afford,” says McCoy. “These positions are worth $ 20 an hour. I hate having to do it, but to pay that I will surely have to charge my clients more. “

The Treasury Department said in September that daycare employees earn an average of $ 24,230 annually. More than 15% of them live below the poverty level in 41 states and half need help from the government. Many people quit their jobs in this sector.

In Edmonds, a neighboring town, Briana McFadden closed her daycare, Cocoon Child Care Center, last month due to stress associated with the pandemic. He says he might have continued if the government offered subsidies to stabilize the sector.

He claims that in 12 years he never increased prices. It came to employ seven people and take care of 37 children. Now you plan to open a store. “There was no point in continuing,” he declared. “Daycare is a tough business.”