00:00Child care is supposed to support working families, but in some states a shortage of child care workers is pushing parents out of the workforce.
00:10Take Nebraska. 91% of counties here don't have enough licensed child care programs to meet demand.
00:18That means long wait lists, last-minute call-outs from parents who need to take care of kids, and lost paychecks.
00:24In Nebraska, there are more jobs and people to fill them.
00:27The U.S. Chamber says a state has 70 available workers for every 100 open jobs.
00:33That makes child care even more important.
00:36If parents can't find care, they can't take those jobs.
00:39Two-thirds of U.S. states are in the same boat as Nebraska, where jobs outnumber available workers.
00:45And when you have that and a lack of child care options, there's a lot of money to lose.
00:50An economic analysis by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and First Five Nebraska break this down.
00:57They found working parents lose about $489 million in wages each year when child care falls through.
01:04Businesses lose another $234 million from lower productivity and turnover.
01:10The state loses about $21 million in income tax revenue every year.
01:14When you add the ripple effect through the economy, the total impact tops $745 million and more than 3,300 jobs.
01:23New data shows the COVID-19 pandemic made the problem worse.
01:27The latest analysis now estimates close to $2 billion in lost business output and $1.61 billion in lost labor income.
01:36State tax revenue drops by nearly $64 million and the state misses out on about 6,843 jobs that aren't filled.
01:45Researchers say more parents are leaving or changing jobs because they cannot find reliable child care.
01:52This is not just a Nebraska story.
01:54Child care shortages are showing up in every state.
01:57The Buffett Early Childhood Institute says nearly 15 million children need child care right now, but the country only has about 10.8 million child care slots.
02:07That means the parents of more than 4 million children have no access to child care within a reasonable distance.
02:13The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates this gap could cost the national economy up to $329 billion over the next decade.
02:22For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey.
02:25Read more right now on SAN.com or download the Straight Arrow News mobile app today.
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