How COVID-19 has endangered the child care industry
Child care for an infant costs the average American family more than $11,000 each year, according to Child Care Aware of America's 2019 report. Those costs ran around $10,000 for a toddler and more than $9,000 for 4-year-olds. By June 2020, more than half of parents in a Care.com survey reported concern over rising child care costs amid the pandemic.
Their fear is warranted: The Center for American Progress estimated in April 2020 that the pandemic could crater access for American families by reducing child care slots by close to 4.5 million. Meanwhile, working families with kids younger than 5 routinely pay roughly 10% of their household income on child care—40% more than the 7% of income defined as affordable for child care by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These families increasingly have less access to child care and pay a higher proportion of income on the service, which in many cases is the only reason both parents are able to continue working.
Stacker consulted reports from the Center for American Progress (CAP) to see in raw numbers how COVID-19 has impacted and endangered the child care industry in the United States. In this story, we drew from two CAP reports: the first, published in April 2020, estimates the child care capacity in every state that is at risk of disappearing if governments do not adequately support child care providers. This report's estimates are based on state-by-state NAEYC survey response data and CAP child care deserts data. A CAP representative in September 2020 expressed to Stacker that they still accurately reflected the challenges facing child care providers. The second report, published in September 2020, estimates the expenses that families currently face for placing children in child care centers or family-based (in-home) care. This report also includes estimates for the overall operating costs of the child care industry in each state.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed in March 2020 funneled $3.5 billion to states via the Child Care and Development Block Grant to support access to child care. With a rising need for these services come gaps in sufficient resources for workers, who make on average $11 an hour, and families, who have struggled to make ends meet amid skyrocketing unemployment rates and business closure.
Since then, Congress has passed several acts and packages designed to save the struggling industry and the parents who count on it, including the HEROES Act and the American Rescue Plan. Parents are also asking their employers for child care and flexibility to better manage the New Normal of parenting.
