You’ve seen the news. Staffing shortages are affecting businesses across the state and country. The struggle to hire workers is hurting their bottom line and consumer access to goods and services.
Affordable childcare offers an immediate solution with long term benefits. It allows more parents to work right now and prepares today’s young children for successful careers.
You can help. Email or call your state and U.S. legislators and demand support for childcare. Business owners and leaders, join the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood. Education.
Affordable, high-quality childcare = an influx of workers
Parents want to work. They want an opportunity to make a difference in their community. They want to earn money and plan for their family’s future.
But when wages fall short of childcare and other expenses—and neighborhoods lack convenient, high-quality options they can trust—caring parents choose to stay home with young children. Meanwhile, short staffed local business owners are unable to expand and your local coffee shop closes at 2 p.m. because the owner can’t cover shifts.
Childcare offers a viable solution. In 2021, the Common Start Coalition proposed a bill that would have established universal, affordable childcare in the state over the course of five years. While the bill failed to pass despite widespread support, CSC and others are working on an amended version for the upcoming legislative session.
Tell your state and federal legislators to support affordable childcare. Business owners, make sure they know how it’s affecting your employees, hiring capabilities, and your bottom line.
Today’s 0-5 year olds are the workers of tomorrow; childcare prepares them
No one knows what shape the economy will take in 15-20 years. But many workforce skills are timeless and essential across industries. Developing these skills begins in early childhood.
- Millions of neurons are formed in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning and care helps children develop cognitive, social, and physical skills that prepare them academic and career success.
- STEM-focused learning, a staple of quality programs, aids in critical 21st century job skills such as problem-solving, gathering and evaluating evidence, decision-making, collaboration, and processing information.
- Children with two or more years of high-quality early childhood education are more likely to graduate from college and have higher salaries at age 26.
Help make sure young children are prepared to contribute to our economy. Get involved with the Common Start Coalition. Business owners and managers, join the Massachusetts Business Coalition for Early Childhood Education, a coalition formed by the Massachusetts Business Roundtable.
Local, regional, and national businesses have been affected
The shrinking workforce has inhibited growth across industries. Small businesses—the lifeblood of the American economy—have been particularly hard hit.
Per CNN, “a recent survey from the National Federation of Independent Businessfound that about half of small-business owners said in July [of 2022] they still can’t fill open jobs, a near-record high in the survey’s roughly five-decade history.”
In Worcester and statewide, business leaders have repeatedly called for more affordable childcare options for working parents.
- A recent report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation noted that workers are leaving for other states. Affordable childcare, the report states, will help businesses recruit and retain staff.
- Tim Murray, President & CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, called workforce development “the top priority” of the Chamber’s 2,300 members. “The kind of workforce that makes a business successful is one that’s skilled, focused, and as productive as possible,” and creating it “requires an innovative approach in education that starts at pre-kindergarten, plus child care options that enable parents to continue working productively in their careers.”
Tell lawmakers to establish affordable childcare in Massachusetts and nationally. Tell them how it’s affecting your employees, hiring capabilities, and bottom line.
Do your part for the Massachusetts economy. Tell lawmakers we need affordable childcare
The next session of the Massachusetts Legislature began January 4th. Email or call your senators and representatives and let them know that children and families need support. So do businesses!
Plus, the federal government has also discussed increased funding for childcare. Tell your U.S. Senators and Representatives that now is the time!