Working Families

Access to affordable, reliable, and high-quality early learning and child care opportunities provides working families with better job stability and overall economic security.

Here are five things to know about child care and working families.

1. According to population data, between 1.2 and 1.5 million workers are affected by inadequate child care options each month. This results in anywhere from 9 to 26 million hours of potential work lost due to child care challenges in any given week (or 468 million to 1.4 billion hours a year.) [KPMB study 2024]
2. According to polls, 59% of part-time or non-working parents say they would go back to work full-time if their child had access to quality child care at a reasonable cost.
3. In 2024, the average annual cost of child care was $13,128, a 29% increase since 2020. [Child Care Aware of America, reported in the 19th]
4. Child care helps parents return to or stay at work, which can generate an additional $94,000 in lifetime earnings for mothers.
5. Data from the Small Business Majority indicates that child care related challenges impact career trajectories with 30% of employees quitting a job or turning down an offer and 27% of employees turning down promotions.

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