Pandemic Childcare Issues Give Good Reason to Invest in Families
By Will Raderman
There are too few guaranteed American benefits, especially for households undertaking the responsibility of raising the next generation of our society. This leaves families in precarious positions, frequently unable to afford basic goods.
Since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents and children have dealt with an increased array of complexities which build off pre-existing crises. There is a shortage of childcare, paid family leave, and financial protections for families. Employment in child day care services is recovering, but the country still has 10% fewer industry job numbers than in January 2020. Work time and jobs were forced to be relinquished in order to watch the kids, contributing to an inability to cover food and rent. A sizable number of households lost all of their savings, in part due to child expenses.
As Congress continues to deliberate on the Build Back Better Act, broad appeal for family benefit programs must be kept in mind. Recent polling from Data for Progress and Invest in America finds that likely voters support child care investments and universal pre-K by over +30-point margins. A majority also support extending the improved Child Tax Credit, which has been instrumental at elevating the material conditions of children.
New numbers from last year give further reason for major federal investments on households with kids and to ensure the policies are actually designed properly. Microdata for the 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is now available. Until last month, many of the recent insights on childcare disruptions have come through the Household Pulse Survey. The annual NSCH can more appropriately be compared to past iterations of the survey and provides a more established look at last year.
Sadly but unsurprisingly, the results reflect a challenging time. A higher rate of parents faced work disruptions due to insufficient childcare than pre-pandemic. Respondents with kids 5 and under were asked “During the past 12 months, did you or anyone in the family have to quit a job, not take a job, or greatly change your job because of problems with child care for this child?” Applying the available survey weighting, which makes demographic adjustments, 12.6% listed a significant job impact due to childcare issues. This is 37% greater than the rate seen between 2018 and 2019. The level of these disruptions according to family income can be seen below.
Families facing these job disruptions suffered as a result. They had more difficulty covering basic expenditures like food and housing. 28.2% of respondents with a major job change due to childcare problems listed “somewhat” or “very” often experiencing challenges in covering necessary costs. That is over three times greater than the frequency among those without a forced work adjustment.
Lower income families endured greater challenges overall. Among families under the poverty line, 60% of those with severe job changes had difficulty covering key expenses. Those above the poverty line also seriously struggled when their work was disrupted (seen in the figure below). Notably, overall family poverty was higher too. Respondents listing a severe job change had a poverty rate of 21.9%. The forced change in work status correlates with a 21% relative increase in the proportion facing poverty.
Yet consistent work was simply not enough to stop material hardship. While lower, the poverty level was still significant for those without job alterations. Telling parents to “just get a job” won’t eliminate it. That is more effectively done through welfare programs and social insurance. It’s providing people - parents and caretakers in particular - greater flexibility and support as is the case in other countries.
This is the moment to address salient kitchen table issues facing Americans. Congress has an opportunity with the Build Back Better Act to pursue a more prosperous direction for the country. As the legislative process is completed, policymakers need to keep in mind two truths: (1) voters want more spending on families and (2) expanded family benefits can secure better economic outcomes for millions of people. It is crucial that the policies passed are not hollowed out, but built up with sufficient funding and good design.
Will Raderman is a research fellow at the Boston University School of Public Health.