Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the childcare industry has lost about 100,000 workers despite improvements in other private-sector jobs, The New York Times reports.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the childcare sector declined by almost 10% since February 2020, and a survey from the University of Oregon last year found that almost one-third of childcare workers were unsure about their ability to regularly purchase food due to their low wages, which are often just above minimum wage.
"Child care has been completely left behind as a competitive employer," said Elliot Haspel of the family policy group Capita.
Christina Peusch, the executive director of the Maryland State Child Care Association, noted that child care has little room for cost-cutting through recent technological innovations, which have helped other struggling industries.
"You can't cut costs — there is no automation, there's no remote," she said. "What do you do? Not give a kid a snack? Not have an adult in the room?"
The Times notes that the American Rescue Plan helped to fund the industry, but that money is going to run out soon, and President Joe Biden's plan to help subsidize child care failed due to opposition from Republicans and West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. However, the newspaper states that local GOP officials are aware of the need for childcare workers.
"I've been doing public policy stuff for 20 years, and never in my career has there been more talk about family policy on the political right than right now," said the Manhattan Institute's Andy Smarick. "There is a recognition that families need help."
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