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30 January 2024 | Press Release
Nearly one in five children in families using paid child care services stopped doing so during the pandemic, severely disrupting the child care industry. And despite a strong recovery in the labor force and the broader economy, the number of children in paid care remained nearly 10% below pre-pandemic levels through at least 2022.
A new report from the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center of The Conference Board (CED), examines the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for paid child care services.
While the drop in paid child care usage corresponds with a decline in the number of children of child care age, the report reveals that many other traditional economic, demographic, and child care market factors known to influence the use of paid child care do not adequately explain the industry's weak recovery. Instead, factors such as work-from-home, shifts in parental preferences, and a reduced supply of paid child care may have contributed to the weak rebound.
"Access to high-quality child care is vital for parents' participation in the workforce," said Dr. Lori Esposito Murray, President of CED. "The substantial and lasting impact of the pandemic on child care usage highlights the fragility of the industry and underscores the need for further investigation into a restructuring of the child care business model by private and public sector leaders to support its sustainability."
The report, Child Care in State Economies (2024), is the first in a 3-part series produced with the support of a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Key findings from the report include:
The U.S. experienced a substantial drop in paid child care usage during the pandemic.
The subsequent recovery in paid child care usage was sluggish, trailing well behind the overall economic and labor force recovery.
There was a decline in the population of child-care age children during the pandemic.
Traditional economic, demographic, and child care market factors do not explain the extent of the decline in paid child care usage.