Quality child care is either unaffordable or inaccessible for most Greater Cleveland families and that’s putting a drag on the local economy, according to a report released today.
“Driving Growth: The Economic Value of Child Care in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County” found that when parents aren’t able to get adequate child care, they often miss work. This means they often lose wages for being absent or leaving the job early. Businesses often suffer lower productivity because of this. Both contribute to lower tax revenue being generated.
Early Matters NEO, which is a “group composed of Northeast Ohio’s economic and child care system leaders,” commissioned the report. It’s primarily based on an online survey of more than 400 Cuyahoga County parents with children under five years of age.
These challenges are complex but solvable. We need the private sector to come together to help us find a solution to remove the cost, quality and availability challenges that impede workforce participation.
Nancy Mendez, CEO of Starting Point, which helps connect families to quality child care, regarding the child care crisis
Child care in Ohio can cost $10,000 a year and many families are not eligible for assistance
The report found that families are challenged to find child care for these reasons:
- Affordability: 55%
- Quality issues: 66%
- Accessibility issues, ranging from an insufficient number of child care slots to providers not having hours available during a parent’s work schedule: 78%
The report notes that child care in Ohio can cost $10,000 a year and many families are not eligible for assistance to offset the cost. It said a family of four making more than $43,000 a year generally isn’t eligible for a subsidy.
Early Matters NEO is concerned with how quality child care can “support workforce and business growth in Northeast Ohio.” They want to use the report’s findings to rally business leaders to help “to work collectively to explore solutions to the child care crisis and ask them to advocate for help in creating accessible and affordable child care in Cuyahoga County,” according to its news release.
The report found that those most affected by this child care crisis are Black and Hispanic families with annual incomes under $60,000.
Early Matters NEO has enlisted the help of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne to assist them in getting business leaders on board to find solutions.
“Government and the business community must collaborate to reshape the child care system in a way that supports families and drives economic growth,” Ronayne said in the news release. “By investing in accessible and high-quality child care, we can ensure parents have the resources they need to succeed in the workforce while laying a solid foundation for the next generation. We believe public-private partnerships are essential for a robust economy and a stronger, more resilient community.”
See: Staffing shortage has childcare centers turning away families
Putting a dollar amount on the cost of inadequate childcare for Greater Cleveland’s families and economy
The report puts dollar amounts on how the lack of quality child care impacts Greater Cleveland’s families and economy.
Parents with children under five lose $5,760 a year when they can’t find quality child care, the report found. This includes $4,500 in lost earnings, often for missing work to stay home with children. Another $1,260 accounts for the extra cost of a job search, often the result of parents getting fired for missing too much work because of inadequate child care.
The report found that not having adequate child care could negatively impact a parent’s career.
About 12% of parents surveyed said they weren’t in the labor market because they couldn’t find quality child care. More than one-third said that a lack of quality child care had led to “a significant work disruption,” such as quitting a job or being demoted. Nearly half said inadequate child care had stunted their careers, including having to turn down job offers and training that would have positioned them for raises and promotions.
Nancy Mendez, CEO of Starting Point, which helps connect families to quality child care, said in the news release that “unemployment is linked to child care availability.”
“These challenges are complex but solvable,” she said of the child care crisis. “We need the private sector to come together to help us find a solution to remove the cost, quality and availability challenges that impede workforce participation.”
Businesses are losing $1,700 annually for each employee-parent whose productivity suffers when they can’t find adequate child care, the report found. This includes $800 in hiring and staff costs as well as $900 in lost revenue.
The loss to families and businesses means fewer taxes are being collected, the report found. This amounts to $1,610 annually for parents with children under five. This includes $870 in lost federal taxes and $740 in lost state taxes.
Countywide, the report found that annually inadequate child care leads to:
- Parents missing out on $411 million in income
- Businesses losing $121 million
- The community losing $114 million in tax revenue
The report also found that GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, in Cuyahoga County is 0.4%-0.8% lower each year because of inadequate child care. GDP measures growth in an economy. It represents the total market value of the goods and services produced within Cuyahoga County in a year.
The report was done by Clive R. Belfield, an economics professor at Queens College of the City University of New York and principal economist at the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at the University of Pennsylvania.