How Employers Can Address The Childcare Crisis That’s Holding Back Working Parents

A growing childcare crisis has kept many parents, especially mothers, from entering or coming back to the workforce. According to a new report issued by the payroll firm Gusto, 4.1 percent of U.S. women quit their jobs in January 2022 compared with 3.4 percent of men. The gap was even larger in states where more families reported COVID-related childcare disruptions.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, parents (particularly mothers) are turning down jobs or missing work because of shortages of bus drivers and teachers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has conducted similar studies focused on certain states. In Missouri, for example, it found:

• The state lost an estimated $280 million annually in tax revenue due to childcare issues and disruptions;
• Approximately nine percent of parents voluntarily left a job due to childcare issues;
• Twenty-eight percent of workers reported they or someone in their household has left a job, not taken a job, or greatly changed jobs because of problems with childcare in the last 12 months; and
• Fifty-seven percent of parents who voluntarily left their jobs did so when their child(ren) were two years old or younger, indicating that childcare for infants and toddlers is the greatest need.

Women are an important part of the industrial metals workforce, and our industry must do more to attract and retain this talent. Fast Company has offered four ways companies can help alleviate the nation’s childcare crisis:

• Provide predictable, yet flexible, scheduling;
• Offer reimbursement for backup childcare when normal school or daycare is not available to parents;
• Offer subsidies to make childcare more affordable generally; and
• Provide on-site child care, summer camp, and afterschool options.