The Atlantic has a good article about a crisis that I have seen brewing for a while, namely the lack of good child care for parents. The article doesn't delve into all of the reasons, but my clients are having to contend with short-sighted health department quarantine orders as well as staffing shortages. Those shortages, in turn, may be driven not only by the fears that The Atlantic identifies, but competition from generous unemployment packages. I know that my anecdotes are not scientific data, but I believe that we are seeing a lot of unintended consequences from well-meant policies. The industry is still searching for solutions, but it is becoming clear that lockdowns, quarantine orders, and general fear are causing serious economic problems for child care centers and the parents who depend on them.
| less than a minute read
Crisis in Child Care?
One study found that in the United States, two-thirds of child-care centers shut down in April 2020. Zachary Parolin, a co-author of the paper and an assistant professor at Bocconi University, in Italy, told me that 29 percent of all centers nationally remained closed or operating at half-capacity as of this June.
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