The Intersection Webinar Recap: The Role of Child Care in Economic Development

We opened May with another great Intersection Webinar focused on early childhood content. We were delighted to see more than 50 participants from across the U.S. who represent nonprofits, associations, education policy groups and more, tune in live to hear Cindy Cisneros, Vice President of Education Programs at the Committee for Economic Development (CED) and Grace Reef, President of the Early Learning Policy Group.

Cindy and Grace discussed CED’s latest report, “Child Care in State Economies – 2019 Update,” which was last updated four years ago. 

Below are the top key takeaways from the webinar as well as the full recording, which you can watch and share with your colleagues. 

If you’re new to our Intersection Webinars, The Institute hosts them twice a month, on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. ET. They cover the latest research, resources and trends across the education continuum. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, click here, or follow us on Twitter for our upcoming webinar announcements, Institute programs, and more!  

Key Takeaways | The Role of Child Care in Economic Development

• In 2015, the CED sought to examine the economic impact of the U.S. child care industry. CED elected to update this data in 2019 because:
  • The availability and affordability of child care affects parents’ participation in the workforce;
  • The child care industry has an economic impact – through wages earned by those working in the field and related purchases of goods and services to support the industry; and
  • Understanding the economic impact of the child care industry can help inform public policy (e.g., strategies to increase supply, strategies to support investments in child care subsidy and their rate of return in state economies, etc.).

• CED determined that the child care industry has a nationwide, economic impact of $99.3 billion dollars. This includes $47.2 billion in direct revenues and $52.1 billion in spillover effects (the expenditure of earnings received by those in the industry, plus the purchase of goods and services to support child care operations).

• The child care industry supports 2 million jobs:
  • Jobs within the industry (1.5 million)
  • Jobs related to supporting the industry (507,089)

• Despite significant growth in the child care sector overall, the nation experienced a 20.4% decline in the availability of home-based child care providers between 2010 and 2016.

• They concluded that:
  • Child care can be a facilitator to economic growth;
  • The decision to work or seek additional education may depend on child care affordability; and
  • Affordable child care encourages low-skilled parents to maintain their connection to the workforce or upgrade skills through education.

For our full conversation with Cindy and Grace, watch the webinar below:

Don’t miss our next Intersection Webinar on May 22 at 1 p.m. ET. Join us for a conversation with Halley Potter, Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation (TCF). Halley will provide an overview of TCF’s latest report, “Scoring States on Charter School Integration“, including an analysis of how states support racial and socioeconomic integration in charter schools. We hope you can join us! Register for the May 22 webinar here. 

Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter for details on upcoming webinars and more.

See you at the Intersection,
The Hunt Team