Jennifer Fernandez
Financial assistance from a state grant allows Alexandra Porter of Garner to place her 3-year-old daughter in daycare.
“If you don’t have childcare, you can’t work and you can’t pay your bills,” Porter said during Thursday’s panel discussion on the relationship between childcare and the economy in North Carolina.
According to panel members, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem of access to child care, with some regions being affected more than others.
It’s not just affordable. Many daycare centers that closed at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic have not fully reopened, according to a report released late last year based on a survey of parents by the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, which hosted Thursday’s discussion. .
Panel members said low wages kept people away from the childcare industry before the pandemic. And now, better-paying job opportunities are alienating childcare workers or preventing them from returning to the classroom.
Access to childcare is also important for parents. Not having a place to leave a child can hinder a parent’s promotion or keep a child out of the workforce. According to the Early Childhood Foundation’s report on the impact of her COVID-19 on families in North Carolina, women are disproportionately affected, especially low-income women.
According to the Early Childhood Foundation, it contributes to growing income inequality and “hampers economic prosperity across North Carolina.”
Children may also lose out, say panel members, because structured learning is not available in many day care centers.
As funding directed towards child care centers dries up during the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry will have to address wage and tuition issues that are impacting access and affordability.
Stakeholders hope to discuss all these topics at Thursday’s online event and address them through legislation and other means.
Lack of parenting affects education, work
In October 2020, the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation surveyed 802 parents of young children across North Carolina on their access to childcare and early childhood education to assess the impact of the pandemic.
Clive R. Belfield, an economics professor at Queen’s College of the City University of New York, used these responses in her report Early Education in the Age of COVID-19: An Economic Analysis of North Carolina.
He found that 31% of parents surveyed were absent from classes and training due to parenting issues during the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, parents reported dropping out of college and training due to parenting issues, writes Bellfield.
His report also found that women with young children, especially those from low-income households, make up a large portion of the economic system, and the lack of affordable childcare may hinder their educational and economic progress. He pointed out that it is highly
JB Buxton, Dean of Durham Technical Community College, said:
Rep. Ashton Clemons, D-Greensboro, said lawmakers are considering legislation to help with workforce issues, including subsidies to stabilize wages. Other bills could help solve access problems by streamlining the process of opening facilities, she said.
Sen. Jim Bergin (R-Angier) says one of the goals of the General Assembly starting this week is to use Medicaid funds to help people attend community college and help pay for childcare while in school. I said that.
“We’re not in agreement on that yet,” he said.
Bellfield also found that rural areas were hit particularly hard as jobs and early childhood education deteriorated early in the pandemic.
“These two phenomena reinforce each other,” he wrote. “It’s hard to find a job without childcare. I can’t afford to raise a child without working.”
He also found that more than half of the families with children in the state live in so-called “child care deserts.” This means that for every three children from birth to her five years old, he has less than one vacancy.
Panelists agreed with Bellfield who wrote that access to child care and the economic well-being of the community were linked.
I also put in the figure of $3,870 a year until my kids start elementary school.
Companies lose $1,270 for each working parent they hire. “This burden is caused by: reduced earnings; reduced productivity that has not been offset by lower wages; and additional employment costs,” he wrote. He also calculated that taxpayers would collectively pay $1,040 per working parent.
Proposing alternative business models
About 190 childcare facilities were lost statewide between January 2020 and March 2022, according to the NC Early Care and Learning Dashboard, administered by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. Data show that the number of registrants dropped by about 26,450 during that time, from 243,135 registrants he dropped to 216,684.
Crystal Morphis, founder and CEO of Creative Economic Development Consulting and Women’s Economic Development Network, suggested that child care managers consider alternative business models. She said there are many options available to the childcare industry beyond simply requiring parents to pay for school or paying state subsidies for children of low-income parents. She said such alternatives could include looking for business incubators, community-owned cooperative models, and even subsidies like those used for franchising.
Cassandra Brooks, owner and operator of Little Believers Academy in Garner, where Porter sent her daughter, said parents in need of childcare “call every day.” can’t provide it.
“Parenting is a public good,” Brooks said.
Parenting and economy
The NC Early Childhood Foundation published a report in November looking at the impact of the pandemic on access to childcare. Below are the findings from the “Child Care and Economic Recovery Across North Carolina During COVID-19” survey.
- Continued economic recovery from COVID-19 will require continued attention to the affordability and availability of childcare for families, especially mothers from lower socioeconomic status households with children under the age of 3. is needed.
- Women make up the majority of part-time low-wage workers in many NC communities and work disproportionately as primary caregivers at home.
- In North Carolina, the pandemic has led to a 40% drop in childcare enrollment across the state, even though only 2% of open providers have closed. Additionally, about 21% of NC daycares were reported to be at risk of closing by the end of he 2021.
- Considering there are an estimated 610,000 children aged 0-5 years, approximately 400,000 working parents across North Carolina are assumed to be constrained by childcare needs. For example, on average, a North Carolina family pays her nearly 41% more on childcare than she does on rent, and a household with one infant and her one toddler pays her one-third as much in income. is spent on childcare.
- Families with children ages 3 to 5 were more likely to receive childcare subsidies (about 40%) compared to families with infants or toddlers (about 20%).
- Childcare availability is inconsistent across the state, with more than half of families with children in North Carolina living in areas designated as “childcare deserts,” with three children aged 0-5. There is not one slot for each.
- A majority of parents reported that centers accounted for the majority of programs in which their children participated, but the proportion of children receiving home care across the state was lower, regardless of residency in the eight prosperity zones reviewed. The percentages varied.
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