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.
- 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]
- 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.
- 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]
- Child care helps parents return to or stay at work, which can generate an additional $94,000 in lifetime earnings for mothers.
- 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.
Learn more:
Posts
How CCDBG Benefits Families in Your State
The Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary federal grant program that provides child care assistance to low-income working families with children under age 13. The majority …
NIEER Report Shows Importance of Including Family Child Care Programs in Publicly-Funded Pre-K
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recently released “Including Family Child Care (FCC) Programs in Publicly-Funded Pre-K: Conditions for Success”, a report demonstrating the benefits of including family …
Biden Doubles Down on Child Care Priorities Through Executive Order
Last week, President Biden took an important step in strengthening his commitment to fix our nation’s child care system. Through executive order (EO), Biden is directing nearly every Cabinet- level …
Stanford Study: One in Four Child Care Workers Reports Difficulty Affording Housing
With many of our nation’s early educators trying to survive on poverty-level salaries, a new Stanford study has found that one out of every four child care workers experiences difficulties …
One Big Thing: Equal Pay and Child Care
A new report by Wells Fargo has found that a majority of women in the United States — a record 52 percent — were unmarried in 2021. The study pointed …
The First Five Things to Know: Impact of the Child Care Crisis on Women & Mothers
Over the past several years, the U.S. has altered the landscape of motherhood, piling on even more new pressures and demands. The ongoing child care crisis is keeping women out …
New Funding Opportunity for Tribal MIECHV
Earlier this month, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a grant opportunity for tribes to access funding for the FY 2023 Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting …
The State of Child Care Ahead of SOTU
As President Biden prepares to deliver his second State of the Union, and first to a divided Congress, First Five Years Fund (FFYF) has put together a state-of-play on a …
BLS Report Finds Price of Child Care “Untenable for All Families”
WASHINGTON – A new report by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Women’s Bureau had a striking conclusion: The cost of child care is untenable for families across …
The Necessity of MIECHV Reauthorization: Economic Benefit
The fourth and final part of FFYF’s blog series on the necessity of MIECHV reauthorization focuses on economic impacts. Given the evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of MIECHV, the program presents …
The Necessity of MIECHV Reauthorization: Parents’ Benefit
As the third part of FFYF’s blog series on the importance of MIECHV reauthorization, this blog focuses on the many ways in which parents benefit from home visiting programs. Home …
FFYF Statement on Bipartisan Introduction of The Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022
WASHINGTON – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX), alongside Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Cathy …
