Analysis: The economic recovery has a child care problem
BLOOMBERG
Laura Buckman/Bloomberg
The pandemic is crippling America’s already fragile child-care system. Jerletha McDonald has no kids enrolled at her day care in Arlington, Texas.
When the pandemic broke out, significant help arrived quickly for working parents in many rich countries, with one notable exception: the United States.
Now, nearly a year later, President Joe Biden aims to address what has become one of the most daunting obstacles to a full economic recovery, with policy proposals such as more money for child care and families.
"If people don't have care, then they can't get to work," said Heather Boushey, a member of Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, in an interview. Bigger changes to the system "are urgent," she said, to help families during the pandemic and beyond. "They are core to how we need to be thinking about the economic recovery."