States Invest in Child Care More Than Ever to Help Parents With Rising Costs
Now, more Missouri employers will be able to help their workers pay for child care thanks to a new state-funded program, approved by lawmakers in May and launched last month. Through the initiative, employers can sign up to offer child care benefits to workers. The cost is split among the state, parents and employers, who can claim a tax break.
In Missouri and elsewhere, a growing acknowledgment of the economic and labor concerns related to child care has fueled political momentum for state-backed initiatives to help parents and providers. Lawmakers in about two dozen states passed new child care programs this year, often backed by business leaders concerned with recruiting and retaining workers.
Scholl’s boss in southeastern Missouri, Abe Funk, is among the business owners who argue that child care is important for a healthy economy. Funk, who is one of the first employers taking part in the new state program, believes that others who sign up will see the same outcome he did when he began footing part of his workers’ child care bill: better employee retention, happier families and more workers in the labor force.
“A lack of child care impacts every aspect of the economy,” said Funk, who owns John’s Pharmacy in Cape Girardeau with his wife, Emily, and has five children. “Think of how many people want to work and can’t because they can’t afford child care. … If they can get child care, then they can get off the sidelines.”
Read more at the Washington Post.