Child care and early education are part of the country’s infrastructure and an economic investment. When Congress neglects to robustly fund child care and early education, it negatively affects parents’ workforce participation, families’ economic security, and U.S. economic prosperity. The Early Childhood Policy team believes in policymakers’ responsibility to establish comprehensive solutions that invest in all families.
The Child Care for Working Families Act would invest in the United States’ care infrastructure, growing the economy while lowering child care costs for the middle class.
To prepare the child care sector for the future, America must invest significantly in the child care workforce and provide quality, accessible, affordable child care for all.
Without federal relief funds, many child care programs will close, disproportionately affecting women’s labor force participation.
Across the country, expensive and limited child care options are causing parents to interrupt their jobs and make other financial sacrifices.
Working mothers are important drivers of three essential industries—elementary and secondary education, hospitals, and food services—yet cannot afford child care for their own children.
New data show that child care expenses amount to 35 percent of low-income families’ earnings.
More mothers would increase their earnings and seek new job opportunities if they had greater access to reliable and affordable child care.
In an era of skyrocketing child care prices, the District of Columbia’s offer of two years of free, high-quality preschool has been a game changer for working families.
Uncertainties loom as housing boom ends, family and federal debt mount, and employment remains subdued.