Childcare's Role in Workforce Development

New study from National Bureau of Economic Research highlights a powerful policy insight: expanding access to full-day childcare can significantly boost employment and earnings for mothers. The study examines the 2016 federal initiative that expanded full-day programming in Head Start and links program data with employment and household data. The results are striking: • Full-day Head Start enrollment increased by 19% in targeted areas. • Single mothers’ employment rose by 1.9%. • Working hours increased by 2.5%. • Earnings grew by 6.5%. The takeaway is clear: childcare availability is a labor market and economic policy lever. Extending program hours meaningfully improves mothers’ ability to work, increasing both employment and income. This study, by professors Chloe Gibbs, Esra Kose, and Maria Fernanda Rosales Rueda, illustrates a simple but important point: childcare and opportunity go hand in hand. https://lnkd.in/gVg4mpxe

If you're serious about retaining and growing your working parent talent, childcare benefits aren't a nice-to-have; they're a strategic imperative. The reality for millions of employees right now is that the lack of affordable, reliable childcare is a massive barrier to productivity, career progression, and even simply showing up to work consistently. When parents, particularly mothers, struggle with childcare, it directly impacts their mental bandwidth, creates immense stress, and often forces them to step back from their careers or leave the workforce entirely. This means companies are losing experienced, valuable talent – and incurring significant replacement costs – not because of performance, but due to external life demands. By offering robust childcare support – whether it's on-site facilities, subsidies, stipends, or even robust dependent care FSAs – organizations are making a direct investment in their workforce. It signals an empathetic, human-centric culture that understands and supports the whole employee. This isn't just about retention; it's about enabling career growth, fostering greater diversity, and ultimately, ensuring your best talent can thrive without constantly battling an impossible work-life equation. Prioritize childcare, and watch your working parent talent flourish. #ChildcareBenefits #WorkingParents #EmployeeRetention #TalentStrategy #HRLeadership #FutureOfWork

Conversations addressing child care policy often focuses on what providers need. And while that is incredibly valid, if we want child care policy that actually works for families and strengthens the workforce, we have to start with parents: how they experience the system, what constrains their choices, and what the data show they are really responding to. Our work, first at the Bipartisan Policy Center and now at Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska, shows how limited "parent choice" is: 👶 Roughly 4.2 million children under 6 with all parents in the labor force lack access to a formal child care slot within a reasonable driving distance ⚠️  The national child care gap is ~28%, with rural communities facing even deeper shortages ⏰  Parents consistently tell us that trust, cost, hours, and availability drive their decisions When parents rely on informal care, patch together multiple arrangements, or reduce work hours, it’s often read as choice. The data tell a different story. Parents are behaving rationally in an irrational market—responding to prices they can’t afford, hours that don’t match work schedules, and care that simply isn’t available where they live. If we want meaningful choice, policy must reflect how parents actually use (or can’t use) child care: ✔️ Funding that aligns with real work schedules ✔️ Support for a mixed supply of care, including home-based and relative care ✔️ Measuring success by whether care is usable, not just whether slots exist Better child care policy starts with listening to parents and designing around the choices they would make if the system actually worked for them. 🔗  https://lnkd.in/ez9S9qAD

As we approach the International Day of Care and Support on October 29th, our research @IDB reveals how childcare access significantly impacts women's economic participation in Mexico (2010-2023) and highlights the urgent need for comprehensive care policies. Key findings: Women's labor participation (46.4%) remains far below men's (76.6%) Married women are much less likely to participate in the workforce than single women Women with dependents reduce their labor participation, while men show no significant reduction The care burden: Globally, women dedicate 2.5 times more hours to unpaid care work than men Nearly 9 out of 10 primary caregivers in households are women 7 out of 10 women who want to work can't due to lack of childcare options Economic opportunity: Women with childcare access are significantly more likely to work Expanding access to childcare services by just 10 percentage points could bring 66,000 young women into the labor force—at a minimal cost of only 0.01% of GDP, making this one of the highest-impact economic policies available Comprehensive policies supporting millions more women could potentially grow GDP by 3.7% by 2035 This evidence demonstrates that investing in childcare services isn't just an equality measure—it's an economically sound policy that could significantly boost Mexico's growth potential. @Ivonne Acevedo Gina Andrade Baena @Miguel Székely Cristián Castillo García https://lnkd.in/eNAT8abT)

Childcare is not a private luxury, it is economic infrastructure. Think back to a time when you relied on someone else for childcare, to make it possible to work, study, or simply manage. Sometimes that support comes from nurseries, nannies, or childminders. Other times it is shouldered quietly by partners, parents, or friends, unpaid and often unrecognised. That reliance is not just a private matter; it is the unseen infrastructure supporting our workforce, our businesses, and our economy. Yet in Jersey, our childcare system is under strain. Parents pay among the highest costs in Europe, nurseries operate on razor-thin margins with high rents and dedicated staff who we trust with shaping our children’s futures — are undervalued and leaving the sector. This is not sustainable. And it is not just a “family issue.” It is an economic competitiveness issue. What can we do? 1️⃣ Government must reframe childcare as infrastructure. Introduce a core funding model, where public investment is tied to affordability, quality standards, and workforce stability. 2️⃣ Businesses must move beyond awareness to action. Employers who rely on working parents should co-invest, through workplace nurseries, subsidies, or partnerships with providers. This is not philanthropy; it is workforce strategy. Better childcare access reduces absenteeism, boosts retention, and helps attract talent. 3️⃣ Partnerships must bridge the gap. Hybrid models where government sets the framework and businesses help carry the load can deliver results faster. Whether through tax incentives, pooled employer funds, or joint investment in childcare hubs, solutions exist. If Jersey is serious about being a place where talent wants to live and work, childcare must be at the centre of our economic planning. Failing to act will cost us more in lost productivity, shrinking labour supply, and reputational damage. My challenge to policymakers and employers: See childcare not as a cost, but as the smartest investment we can make in economic resilience. The question is not can we afford it, it’s can we afford not to?

We kept hearing the same question from employers and policymakers: ‘What is the business case for child care?’ so we built a research brief that lays out the numbers. A few things the data makes clear: The U.S. economy is losing an estimated $122B every year due to child care breakdowns, in missed work, reduced hours, and lower tax revenue. In individual states, the impact reaches into the billions annually. For employers, replacing a parent who leaves because of child care can cost 50–200% of their salary when you factor in recruiting, onboarding, and lost productivity. The brief also looks at emerging solutions, including cost-sharing models like Tri Share, where states, employers, and families each contribute a portion of the cost of care. Early results from these programs point to: - Higher workforce participation for parents - Better retention for employers - Stronger, more resilient local economies This isn’t a simple issue, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But we now have a clear, research-backed case that investing in child care is a smart economic and talent strategy. If you are a business leader or policymaker, I really believe you can benefit from checking out the research. It absolutely gives me hope for us all to develop even more child care systems. #childcare #education

Who are the workers your business cannot function without—and what does it cost when child care keeps them from showing up, or forces them to hand in their notice? After years of working with employers on child care solutions, I believe this is still one of the most overlooked strategic issues in business. Too often, child care is framed as a social issue. And it’s not. It is a workforce, productivity, and competitiveness opportunity for every employer and business across our country. A new report published by Moms First (led by Reshma Saujani and Molly Day) developed with analytical support from McKinsey & Company estimates the child care crisis is costing U.S. businesses up to $70 billion annually in lost workforce output. Roughly 60% of that opportunity is concentrated in the foundational workforce—the nurses, teachers, plant workers, retail associates, drivers, and others who keep businesses operating and the economy moving. Yet, only about 15% of employers offer child care benefits today. The proof is in the pudding (and data)! We heard directly from employers already acting on this opportunity like Chobani , JBS, Simple Modern, and UAMS - University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who are treating child care not as a perk, but as workforce infrastructure. And guess what? It’s paying off for them. Improved retention, higher productivity, stronger loyalty, better culture, and more. We also heard NY Governor Kathy Hochul speak about her commitment to investing in child care as part of building a stronger economy and workforce in New York. The question is not whether employers should invest in child care. It is whether they can afford not to. For companies looking for a practical starting point, the Employer Childcare Navigator we helped develop with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is designed to help employers assess their options and take action. You can learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gy8_MiZ2 For the full Moms First report: https://lnkd.in/ggPcdSCF #BusinessLeadership #WorkforceStrategy #TalentStrategy

Right now, daycare for my 3-year-old and infant costs us almost $3,500 a month. That's why New York’s proposed expansion of child care is so important to talk about right now. Because when you support mothers, you support society. And yet, we keep talking about child care like it’s a personal budgeting problem instead of what it actually is: infrastructure. The real cost of motherhood isn’t just the monthly bill. It’s: → Careers paused or permanently altered → Parents working just to cover daycare → Women stepping back, not by choice Last year alone, 450,000 women left the workforce: one of the sharpest drops we’ve seen outside the pandemic. Burnout is at an all-time high. Affordable child care is out of reach for millions. And on top of that, you can’t just “pull kids out of daycare” to take a career break or when someone loses a job. You lose your spot. You lose months, sometimes years, of waiting. Not everyone has a “village.” Grandparents are often still working, sick, or unable to help. I had to get on the waitlist for childcare when I was 4 months pregnant. Insane. We keep framing this as a personal decision or a family tradeoff. It’s not. So here’s what can change: • Employers can treat child care like retention infrastructure, not a perk • Leaders can design roles and leave policies that don’t punish parents for having families • Policymakers can invest in child care and paid leave the same way we invest in roads, schools, and economic growth Supporting mothers isn’t a niche benefit or a feel-good initiative. It’s how you retain talent. How you keep women in the workforce. How you build a functioning economy. The question isn’t whether we can afford to fix child care and paid leave. It’s whether we can afford not to.

Women aren’t leaving the workforce. They’re being pushed out by a broken care system. New data from Catalyst Inc. shows that caregiving pressures are now the #1 reason women are exiting work, not ambition, not commitment, not “opting out.” 👉 42% of women who voluntarily left their jobs cited caregiving responsibilities and childcare costs as the primary driver. 👉 Over 455,000 women left the U.S. workforce in just eight months. 👉 Women without flexible schedules were far more likely to exit. 👉 Women of color were disproportionately laid off, deepening inequality. Let’s be honest about what this actually means. This is not a “women’s workforce issue.” This is not a “confidence gap.” This is not a pipeline problem. This is a care infrastructure failure. We built an economy that: • Depends on care • Refuses to fund care • Punishes those who provide it So when childcare costs rival paychecks, when work is rigid and care is not, when caregiving is treated as a private problem, women make the only rational economic decision left. They leave. And then we call it a “choice.” I'll share what we've long known at The Care Gap: You cannot talk about productivity, talent shortages, fertility rates, or economic growth without talking about care. Care is not a benefit. Care is not a perk. Care is essential economic infrastructure. Until we treat it that way, through affordable childcare, flexible work, fair pay, and professionalized care systems, we will keep losing women, burning out families, and stalling our economies. Women are not opting out. The system is opting out of care. And the bill is coming due.

Childcare is often touted as a “silver bullet” for increasing female labor force participation. But does expanding early childhood care and education (ECCE) always lead to more mothers in the workforce? My co-authors (Ragui Assaad, Paloma Avendano, and Ruotong Li) and I just released a new working paper that explores this question in the context of Jordan—a country with one of the lowest female employment rates globally. In 2025, female labor force participation in Jordan was estimated at just 15%. For mothers with young children (ages 3–5), that number drops to just 9%. To address this low rate, Jordan has been expanding Kindergarten 2 (KG2), aiming for universal enrollment. Here is what our research found: Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (FRDD) across three different age eligibility cutoffs (ages 4, 5, and 6), we found that ECCE enrollment has no significant impact on maternal employment or other labor market outcomes. Whether a child was in KG1, KG2, or Grade 1, their mother was not more likely to be employed, in the labor force, or working more hours. This null effect was robust across different regions and educational backgrounds. Why isn’t ECCE moving the needle in Jordan? Our findings point to several critical barriers: - The “Short Day” Constraint: The average duration of ECCE in Jordan is only five hours. This is simply not long enough to cover a standard full-time work, making employment difficult without additional care arrangements. - Structural and Social Norms: Deep-seated gender norms and high caregiving responsibilities continue to limit women's options in the private sector. - While global studies often show positive links between childcare and work, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains an outlier, with similar results in my other work in Egypt and Algeria. The Takeaway for Policymakers: Simply providing more childcare is not enough to solve the motherhood employment penalty. To help mothers to work, we must look toward longer care hours and complementary policies like flexible or remote work arrangements. You can read the full working paper here: https://lnkd.in/gVhNgiwK