NBC News is reporting on the peril of child care support after the expiration of America Rescue Plan which could leave 3 million children without child care.
A Century Foundation report in June estimated that over 70,000 child care programs, or about one-third of those that relied on funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act passed in March 2021, could close. That amounts to about 3.2 million children losing child care.
The potential loss of child care providers would have a profound impact on working parents, with women shouldering the worst of it, but labor and economic experts warn the ripple effect will be far-reaching in ways that those who don’t have young children should be just as concerned about.
Source: NBCNews.com
If child care centers close and there are no affordable alternatives then someone will need to quit or leave the labor force to help take care of the kids.
If the problem stopped there it would be enough and perhaps surmountable however there is another issue that the BLS reported on recently. From the BLS:
Fourteen percent of the civilian noninstitutional population age 15 and over, or 37.1 million people, provided unpaid eldercare, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. A little over one-fourth (28 percent) of eldercare providers engaged in unpaid eldercare on a given day, spending an average of 3.6 hours providing this care. These estimates are averages for the 2-year period of 2021-22. Eldercare providers are defined as individuals who provide unpaid care to someone age 65 or older who needs help because of a condition related to aging. This care can be provided to household or non-household members, as well as persons living in retirement homes or assisted care facilities. Eldercare can involve a range of care activities, such as assisting with grooming, preparing meals, and providing transportation. Eldercare also can involve providing companionship or being available to assist when help is needed, and thus it can be associated with nearly any activity.
Source: BLS.gov
As society grapples with a lopsided demographic structure where millions of baby boomers exit the labor force, millions of Millennials find themselves in the middle of trying to raise kids, support their elder parents or grandparents and make ends meet in between everything else.
Losing the support of child cares will be a huge blow to working parents and especially single mothers and fathers and having to help support elders will be another burden at a time there are nursing home shortages and a shortage of care givers all throughout the United States.
Somewhere in this demographic nightmare there are profits to be made so stay tuned, stay profitable and stay solvent…
[…] are retiring each year, others continue to age and become ill and yet others can’t afford child care or elder care. From […]