Story at a glance
- Parents with young children experienced a higher rate of child care-related employment disruptions in 2020, compared to before the coronavirus pandemic.
- Caregivers with children that have special health care needs had a nearly threefold higher chance of having an employment disruption.
- If a parent is forced to cut down hours at work or loses a job, the impact can be deep, as many families lean on employer-provided health insurance.
The coronavirus pandemic forced millions of working parents to juggle job responsibilities with caring for their children, and a new report sheds light on how those child care struggles negatively affected caregiver employment.
A study out of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine (UNC) looked at child care-related employment disruptions before and after COVID-19. The results showed there was a 30 to 40 percent increase in employment disruptions due to child care difficulties among all parents, no matter their child’s health needs.
Nearly 50,000 children, from newborns to 5-year-olds, were included in the study from 2016 to 2020.
In 2020, about 12 percent of all children 5 years old and younger had caregivers with a child care-related employment disruption — a jump from about 9 percent of children in 2019.
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Of those caregivers who had children with special health care needs, they had a nearly threefold higher chance of having an employment disruption than those caregivers who did not have children with special health care needs.
Researchers also found that children 2 years old or younger, as well as Black, Asian or multiracial children had higher odds of having a caregiver with employment disruption, as did those living in low-income families and in families not headed by two married parents.
If a parent is forced to cut down hours at work or loses a job, the impact can be deep, as many families lean on employer-provided health insurance.
“Without increased access to childcare, caregivers may struggle to mee the basic human and health care needs of their children,” wrote researchers.
They also noted that the impact of these disruptions in employment and health care “should continue to be studied as the physical and mental toll have lasting effects. They also suggest the creation of broader systems of care and support for parents and families experiencing these issues.”
A separate 2021 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) identified similar trends, finding among employed parents, mothers were more likely than fathers to report they care for children if they are sick and can’t attend school. Nearly half, 46 percent, of mothers also said they are not paid when they take time off to care for children who can’t go to school.
Pew Research also found about half of employed parents, 52 percent, with children younger than 12 years old said it was difficult to handle child care responsibilities during the coronavirus outbreak. Parents cited challenges with work-family balance and that they couldn’t give their 100 percent at work and ended up needing to reduce their hours during the pandemic.
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