A decline in Pennsylvania’s Child Care Works enrollment might be a sign the pandemic has forced low-income families to prioritize home care over earning a paycheck.
The shortages, caused by low wages and razor-thin profit margins, have ripple effects that reach far beyond the classroom and affect everyone.
Childcare options in Pennsylvania essentially evaporated in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Merideth Bucher/WITF PBS NewsHour presents an in-depth look at how the lack of affordable, quality child care is affecting American families.
“I’ve been in this industry for 30 years, we’ve always talked about the challenges of hiring … but we’ve never seen this before.”
Between March 2020 and the end of August 2021, 921 child care providers permanently closed in Pennsylvania and 680 new ones opened.
