OPINION: Quality child care essential for our economic recovery

Sep. 12—Several Valley business people have told us in the past week or so that they are hoping the end of the $300 federal unemployment subsidy will bring potential employees back to the job market.

I hope for their sake and for the sake of their customers that this is true. I suspect it at least will help.

Even if it does, though, there's another major issue standing in the way of recovery.

The availability of child care, an issue that has long challenged the Valley, will need to be addressed if significant, lasting progress is to be achieved.

The Daily Item's Eric Scicchitano reported this week about a United Way of Pennsylvania study that found that 57% of state workers either had to reduce their hours or leave their jobs because of a lack of child care during the pandemic.

Also in that story, Eric reported on a statewide survey of employers by the Early Learning Investment Commission and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry that found that 38% of businesses cited child care as a moderate to high need for employees, and that 54% believe they lost workers during the pandemic because they couldn't secure child care.

"Accessible and affordable high-quality child care is essential for working parents to secure employment, succeed in their job and advance in their careers," Kristen Rotz, president of United Way of Pennsylvania and executive director of PA 211, told Eric. "Businesses need child care to improve recruitment, retention and productivity of their employees."

Another challenge facing child care availability is the fact that providers are frequently underpaid.

What we pay child care providers has always been a paradox. Obviously, there's little most of us care more about than the well-being and future of our children. Somehow, though, what we pay those we need to help care for them has never quite measured up to that concern.

It's not easy. Often a parent has to decide if she or he can even afford to work, once the cost of child care is considered. I remember my wife and me having that discussion frequently as we were raising our four children with both of us working.

Adrienne Mael, newly named president of the Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way, made an excellent point about a possible solution in Eric's story.

A long-term solution, she said, might be government subsidies to establish child care centers or boost pay and benefits for employees at the centers.

Using tax dollars to provide for improved child care might not be universally popular, she admitted, but it wouldn't just strengthen the local workforce and boost the economy. It would better prepare children for school.

"If we get kids into high-quality child care, they're joining the workforce in 15 to 20 years, you're creating better workers now for the future. This connects to employers in our area more than we might realize," Mael said.

The bottom line, as we wrote in our editorial last week, is that quality child care for working parents is vital. It yields benefits on multiple levels. Families and employers, as well as our educational and governmental systems, all share a huge stake in the quality care of the children of working parents.

This issue deserves our ongoing, careful attention. The Daily Item, in collaboration with the other CNHI newspapers in Pennsylvania, plans a thorough special report on it next month. In addition, we will continue to regularly report stories on this topic.

If you have thoughts on how to best address child care in the Valley, we'd appreciate hearing from you.

Email comments to dlyons@dailyitem.com.

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