Working parents childcare struggles are getting worse [Video]

More parents are missing work, working part-time or staying out of the labor force altogether for child-care reasons than before the pandemic, new research shows, reflecting a steadily worsening situation for the country’s 50 million working parents.

The number of parents citing child-care-related work disruptions has risen 19% from pre-pandemic levels, and is 17% higher than at the peak of the covid-19 crisis, according to an analysis of Census data by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Researchers found that mothers with children under 5 were more than twice as likely as other parents to cite child-care challenges as a barrier to work.

“Child care is a growing problem, and mothers with young children are being affected to a much greater degree than other parents,” said Mark O’Dell, a senior research analyst at the Chicago Fed and a co-author of the report. “If we look at the number of potential …