Parents are missing work in record numbers due to childcare challenges and the ‘triple disease’
The intersection of a health crisis and a massive shortage of childcare workers is forcing working parents to take unprecedented time off from work.
Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the number of working parents out of work due to childcare issues will hit record highs in 2022.
Last month, the number of workers absent from work due to childcare-related issues hit an all-time high of 104,000, according to ongoing government monitoring. That is the maximum since the pandemic peaked in 2020.
Before the pandemic, the number of parents forced to cut work to care for their children in the month of October had not exceeded 42,000 in any year since 2003.
This year’s problems stem from a shortage of childcare workers combined with what has been called a “triple pandemic” – simultaneous outbreaks of flu, COVID and RSV that are sickening children across America and pushing children’s hospitals to their limits.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that an early rise in wintertime viruses had hit the US, noting that young children were particularly at risk.
The outbreak of respiratory viruses has resulted in large numbers of students across America being forced to stay at home.
In late October, a Virginia school closed when nearly half of its students were absent with flu-like symptoms, while 42% of students in New Haven public schools have reportedly missed at least 10 days of school this school year, according to a spike in respiratory illnesses.
In Kansas, a premature spike in seasonal virus cases has fueled widespread absenteeism in recent weeks, while absenteeism from school due to illness has also forced parents in Philadelphia to stay home from work.
Parents of preschool children have also been affected by the outbreaks. On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics sent a letter to US President Joe Biden requesting that an emergency be declared because of the “alarming increase in respiratory illnesses in children.”
It is believed that since the pandemic began, young children have become more susceptible to the symptoms of RSV – a common winter illness that is usually mild but can cause lung problems in more severe cases. RSV is known to be riskier for young children, but when COVID lockdowns suppressed outbreaks of the disease, babies and young children were unable to build immunity to the virus. This is believed to have caused subsequent RSV epidemics to become worse than usual.
“My child is home for the sixth week of eight today,” Devora Rogers, chief strategy officer at market research firm Alter Agents, wrote on LinkedIn this week. “I am fortunate to work at a company where I can work remotely and do what I need to do for my family. But how many others don’t have that luxury?”
The problems are also causing additional headaches for the more than 33 million Americans who are not guaranteed paid sick leave, many of whom are poorly paid and work on the front lines.
Crisis in child care
The impact of the triple pandemic on working parents has been exacerbated by a childcare industry that has not fully recovered from a pandemic-era worker exodus – making it difficult for working parents to access childcare, even when their children are well enough to care to participate in it.
In October, the sector’s workforce was still nearly 10% smaller than in February 2020, just before a third of those employed in childcare left the sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. High bar for employment in childcare also means recruiting new staff is difficult.
Childcare facilities across the US have subsequently had to close their doors, cut the number of days they operate, or limit the number of children they can enroll.
Kuddly Kids, a daycare center in Hortonville, Wisconsin, is among those affected and has had to close temporarily until more staff can be found.
“We need at least three full-time teachers and two part-time teachers,” a Facebook post said last week. “If we don’t get any more employees, we can’t continue to look after the current school enrollment of children.”
“We are on the precipice of collapse,” said Sarah Siegel Muncey, co-founder of Neighborhood Villages, a Boston-based nonprofit child care organization wealth earlier this month. “There is a solution to the childcare crisis, and it invests in childcare as a public good.”
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