Breaking Down the Child Care Crisis If you’ve recently visited a child care facility, you may have noticed some of the classrooms are empty – lights are off, no messes to be picked up, and no storybooks being read. How is it that these rooms are empty, yet your friends, family, or neighbors can’t seem to find affordable care? Nationally, and right here in Wisconsin, child care providers are at a breaking point after operating on razor thin margins for decades. We’ll break down how we got here, what steps Wisconsin leaders have taken to address the child care crisis, and what more needs to be done to ensure families across the state have access to affordable child care. Growing Crisis The early care and education industry is labor-intensive and requires a high level of staffing to ensure children are in a safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate environment. Add in higher insurance costs due to increased liability, plus rent, food, supplies, utilities, and more, and a provider’s financial resources are stretched thin. These thin margins prevent child care providers from paying employees competitive wages, resulting in high turnover and staffing shortages that leave classrooms empty. Why not just raise rates? Because families are already struggling to pay the current prices. By raising rates, providers risk having families leave their program because they simply can’t afford it, leaving families without the child care they need in order to participate in the workforce and providers without the revenue they need to keep their doors open. Access Many child care providers have unfilled capacity, meaning that they’re not serving as many children as they’re licensed to serve. Statewide, providers report that they are under capacity by 33,000 children. At the same time, half of providers report having a waitlist. With a lack of staff, child care providers are stuck closing more classrooms and serving fewer children while watching their waitlist continue to grow. This is causing parents, especially women, to leave or not enter the workforce, costing Wisconsin at least $1.1 billion per year in lost economic productivity, earnings, and revenue. Learn more about access Workforce Gaps in access to child care stem directly from staffing shortages. Due to razor-thin margins, Wisconsin child care centers are only able to pay lead teachers an average of $13.55 per hour. That’s 69% less than the average hourly wage of $28.34 for Wisconsin workers. On top of that, at least half of child care programs in Wisconsin lack health insurance benefits. Unlivable wages combined with a lack of benefits is causing qualified early care and education professionals to leave the field. It’s no surprise that half of child care center directors report that keeping staff or filling staff vacancies is “very” or “extremely” challenging. This workforce shortage is the main reason that providers are reducing their capacity and have waitlists. Over half of center directors report that staffing challenges are causing them to serve fewer children and turn families away. Learn more about workforce Affordability The average price of center-based care for one infant is over $11,900 per year. That’s 16% of the median household income in Wisconsin and equivalent to an academic year at UW - Madison. Unlike college, child care is paid in cash, up-front at a time when families are just starting out. Yet, that price doesn’t come close to $33,715 – the average true cost of care for an infant, and what providers would need to pay their staff fairly and cover all expenses of running their business. This large gap often leaves wages to suffer. Learn more about affordability This information is also available as an Adobe pdf file for download, share, or print.
