The labor market is strong – employment is low, and many sectors have completely recovered the losses from COVID-19. Some subsectors, however, are still suffering. Child day care services is one and that can have a rippling effect across the labor market.
This slow recovery is hurting parents of young children especially. The lack of child care workers affects the availability and costs of child care. In turn, it may be keeping parents of young children out of the labor market, affecting job growth in other sectors. For those able to return to the labor force, the lack of workers in this sector may be impacting the number of hours they can work, perhaps crimping the productivity of those able to return to work full time. Without adequate child day care services, parents will have difficulty balancing parental demands and their work.
What Recruiters Can Do:
Young parents need support now more than ever, as finding child care help is increasingly difficult. Recruiters can offer flexibility to parents of young children in the form of paid parental leave, child care reimbursement, or emergency backup child care services, as some companies have already started to do. Implementing and advertising a culture that is welcoming and willing to adapt to the heightened needs of parents of young children will help recruiters gain an edge in the search for talent.
