Stimulus funds related to child care expired in September. October saw a sharp increase in reduced work hours among those citing child care issues.
The number of Americans who reduced their work hours due to child-care problems jumped sharply in October, the first month following the Sept. 30 expiration of pandemic-era federal funding for child-care-provider-based stabilization grants. The labor-force statistics were gathered through the monthly Current Population Survey and released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The pullback in working hours in October due to child-care issues came after some $24 billion in federal child-care stabilization grants allocated as part of the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act expired, along with extra money for the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The full effects of the loss of child-care stimulus funds likely will take months, if not years, to be felt. Based on an analysis from the Century Foundation, up to 70,000 child-care programs across the U.S. could close permanently, resulting in the loss of 200,000 early-education jobs and 3.2 million child-care slots. Rising scarcity could drive up costs, which some parents might be able to pay. Others, however, might need to reduce their work hours or leave their jobs to care for children.
The demise of the emergency federal funds could drive those costs even higher. “This funding cliff takes away critical resources that allow programs to create what parents want and what children need,” Allyx Schiavone, executive director of Connecticut-based Friends Center for Children, said Thursday.
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