More than a million parents in the United States are now losing work hours and income to take care of their children amid the country's ongoing childcare crisis.
According to a recent Parental Work Disruption Index report from accounting firm KPMG, which analyzes data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how the lack of childcare affects households.
The study estimated that between 1.2 million and 1.5 million US workers had to shorten their monthly working hours due to childcare problems. Of those, 139,000 were full-time workers who missed hours or worked part-time to care for their children.
For parents, losing even an hour of work per week could mean earning $780 or $1,504 less annually. The index noted that losing six hours per week meant a loss of $4,680 to $9,026 yearly for single parents.
Who Are the Most Affected by Lost Working Hours?
Among parents, mothers were significantly more likely than fathers to reduce working hours, comprising 77% of full-time workers who had to work less due to childcare problems. Additionally, women comprised 66% of all full-time workers who had to cut their hours to part-time due to childcare challenges.
Furthermore, 90% of parents "voluntarily" working part-time were women.
US Childcare Crisis
The childcare crisis in the US is caused by three key factors. First, the cost of childcare is now $10,500 annually just for one child. The steep cost of childcare means that lower-income families may have very limited access to services.
"For families that are headed by a divorced parent, or in households of color, that price of child care is more than a quarter of the family's income, up to as much as 60 percent of total household income. That's just not sustainable for families," Anne Hedgepeth, chief of policy and advocacy at ChildCare Aware of America, said, as quoted by The Hill.
In addition, childcare centers also need to boost their prices to cover insurance costs and offer employees competitive wages. However, the thin margins in business make competitive pay unlikely, which results in high turnover rates and staffing shortages.
