CHAMBER AIMS TO UNDERSTAND IMPACT OF CHILD CARE ISSUES ON WORKFORCE
Exacerbated by the recent pandemic, some Oklahoma City-area businesses, like many others across the state and nation, are having trouble finding and retaining enough workers. Some of the reasons, they say, are the high cost and lack of available child care services. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the child care sector is nearly 10% smaller than it was three years ago. That adds up to about 100,000 fewer child care workers nationwide. Typically, jobs at child care facilities pay about $13 an hour. Workers can earn more at fast food restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores. Kim Wilmes, vice president of economic development programs at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said in addition to the Chamber hearing about child care issues impacting local companies, it is also a factor that some new-to-market, prospective companies consider when evaluating whether to establish operations in Oklahoma City. To more fully understand the impact child care has on the Oklahoma City workforce, the Chamber has partnered with Cathy O’Connor from Coalign Group and Carrie Williams from Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness to conduct a child care research study, including a quantitative survey in both English and Spanish that will hopefully shed some light on this
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