Understanding and solving child care challenges is key to strengthening Kentucky’s workforce and growing the economy, according to two new reports released Thursday by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
“Strengthening Kentucky’s workforce and economy is central to the Chamber’s mission,” said Ashli Watts, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber. “This new research makes it clear: access to child care is a critical workforce issue, and addressing it is essential to Kentucky’s economic future. Until now, we haven’t had a full picture of the scope and scale of Kentucky’s child care challenges. Making progress requires thoughtful research, cross-sector collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose—this effort rises to that challenge and offers Kentucky a roadmap for action.”
These new reports include:
• A Workforce Solution that Works: How Child Care Can Close Kentucky’s Workforce Gaps and Grow Our Economy – Kentucky Chamber Center for Policy and Research, supported by the Lift a Life Novak Family Foundation
• Child Care Gaps in Kentucky – The Buffett Early Childhood Institute, in partnership with the Kentucky Chamber and Metro United Way
A Workforce Solution that Works offers original estimates of how solving child care challenges in Kentucky could grow our workforce and economy. It finds that expanding access to child care and making it more affordable could enable 16,000 to 28,000 Kentucky parents to join or return to the workforce. This shift could lift Kentucky’s workforce participation rate for working-age adults out of the bottom ten nationally and generate $599 million to $1.1 billion in new wages and state tax revenues. The report provides additional analysis on workforce participation in Kentucky and breaks down workforce impact estimates on a regional level.
“We’ve long understood that child care plays a critical role in helping parents support their families,” said Ashley Novak Butler, executive director of the Lift a Life Novak Family Foundation. “With this new research, we can now quantify how increasing access to affordable child care could give more parents the options and opportunities they need to thrive.”
Child Care Gaps in Kentucky helps frame the Commonwealth’s challenges with child care access by examining the divide in supply and potential demand across the state. It estimates that, statewide, formal child care services are unavailable for up to 56,000 Kentucky children who may potentially need it. The report examines gaps at the regional and local levels, including by congressional district, state senate district, county, and opportunity zones. In 37 rural counties, the report found, over half of children who may need formal child care services have no local options. The study is intended to serve as a starting point for identifying areas in the state where child care supply and demand is most misaligned.
“A clear understanding of where child care supply falls short is essential to developing effective solutions,” said Linda Smith, director of policy at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. “This report provides a data-based foundation that can help inform thoughtful strategies to improve both access and quality across Kentucky.”
Both these new reports follow the release of A Foundation for Action: Shared Solutions to Child Care Challenges in Kentucky, a groundbreaking report that outlines consensus-driven recommendations to support access to child care in the Commonwealth. This report resulted from eight months of collaboration across an ideologically diverse group of 40 stakeholders and state leaders. The report highlights 37 key policy and programmatic solutions, which include:
• Improve child care data to better target limited resources and ensure a strong return on investment.
• Support low- and moderate-income families in affording quality child care.
• Improve the child care business model through careful regulatory relief, workforce solutions, and new opportunities.
• Engage local communities and employers in addressing child care challenges.
Each report can be found at www.kychamber.com.
Kentucky Chamber