Advocates for families and businesses say an on-going childcare crisis is costing North Carolina billions of dollars in lost economic activity.
A new report estimates that a lack of affordable child care costs North Carolina's economy $5.65 billion each year. That report comes from the NC Chamber Foundation, the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the advocacy nonprofit NC Child.
Neil Harrington is NC Child's research director. He says that figure includes employers' losses due to worker turnover and absenteeism combined with lost tax revenue for state and local governments.
In 2023, there were about 100,000 fewer parents with young kids, so kids under age five, in North Carolina's labor force than there were in 2019, just before the pandemic.
The report surveyed parents about why they left jobs - and more than a third said it was due to issues accessing child care.