Letters: Child care is key to getting people back to work

“Why doesn’t anyone want to work?” It’s a common question among the business community, with a few potential answers.

First, we must recognize that COVID-19 shrank our workforce. About 1.15 million Americans have died from the virus and at least another half million are dealing with ongoing health issues. Second, we know that some working parents have lost access to child care.

Unlike most industries, the child care sector has not recovered the employees it lost during the pandemic. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were still 100,000 fewer child care workers this past fall than there were in February 2020.

When a child care business can’t find staff, it creates a problem for all of the businesses that rely on working parents. Parents are having to make stark choices in this new normal. According to recent research from the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, over half of parents of young children have made some sort of adjustment to their work or school schedule in the last six months due to child care issues. Parents with an annual income of $20,000 or less were more than twice as likely to have to give up their jobs entirely to care for their children.

What can we do to ensure that children, working parents and businesses are supported and that our economy thrives? This session, lawmakers have a historic opportunity to invest in early care and education by ensuring that children who were served by one-time federal funds keep their child care seats and expanding access to more families.

But beyond this year, we will eventually have to grapple with the fact that the child care sector cannot retain and recruit talented teachers at less than $10 an hour. These skilled teachers, some of whom have years of experience with young children, are already leaving the field to work in other professions because of pay. At the same time, our families cannot afford to pay more in child care tuition.

We will need solutions at the local, state, and federal levels to ensure the long-term economic success of our state — and ensure that everyone who wants to work is able to do so.

BILL LANGKOPP

executive vice president, Louisiana Hotel and Lodging Association