Nebraska’s child care crisis mirrors national gaps affecting millions of families

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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 percent 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 the 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.

01:51This 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,

02:02but 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 Kayleigh Carey.

02:25Read more right now on SAN.com or download the Straight Arrow News mobile app today.

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