Three-quarters of parents also said in a recent poll that it's hard to find affordable child care nearby
There are only enough licensed child care spots in San Diego County to cover half the number of young children in the region who come from working families, according to aThe spots that are available are unaffordable for many families and typically cost anywhere from $12,900 to $19,500 a year.
On top of that, virtually all child care providers reported they are having trouble finding enough qualified workers, a reality that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. About half of the child care providers surveyed said enrollment is below capacity, which makes it difficult for providers to stay afloat financially because they are taking in less revenue.
The lack of child care also disproportionately impacts working women, according to the poll. A quarter of mothers surveyed said they chose not to work because they lack child care, compared with 9 percent of fathers, and more than half of the women polled had to change their work schedules to care for their children, compared with 30 percent of men.A San Diego family with a preschooler and infant spends — on average — 40 percent of the median income on child care, according to the USD report.
Some families aren’t enrolling because the kind of child care offered doesn’t work for them. For example, families may need part-time care but may only find providers in their area who offer full-time care. Child care workers are some of the lowest-paid employees in the San Diego area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median annual wage for child care workers in the region was $29,289 in 2020, which was about $6,000 less than the wage needed for a single adult to meet their basic needs in San Diego County, according to the report.
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