Washington Business Winter 2020 | Washington Business | Página 47

business backgrounder | economy
Washington’s Child Care Crisis
A lack of access to affordable, high-quality child care
is costing employers billions.
Jason Hagey
AWB, together with several partner organizations, released a report last fall showing the financial
toll that Washington’s lack of child care is taking on employers and the economy.
The lack of access to affordable, high-quality child care isn’t just a problem for families.
A report released last fall found that it’s costing Washington businesses more than
$2 billion per year in employee turnover or missed work, and the total cost to the state
economy tops more than $6.5 billion per year.
The report, “The Mounting Costs of Child Care: Impacts of child care affordability and
access to Washington’s employers and economy,” was produced in partnership with the
Association of Washington Business Institute, Child Care Aware of Washington, Children’s
Alliance, Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
The report was based on a survey of 400 Washington households with children under
the age of 6. Elway Research Inc. conducted the survey and experts from the Eastern
Washington University Institute of Public Policy and Economic Analysis calculated the
economic impacts based on the responses.
The findings confirm what many families already know: Finding high-quality child care
is difficult, and when it is available it’s expensive. For a typical single parent, the report
found more than half of their income would go toward child care expenses.
At A Glance
The report was based on a survey
of 400 Washington households
with children under the age of 6.
It found that a lack of affordable
child care is causing people to
leave jobs, not accept jobs or
forego education opportunities.
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