Growing pains: the economic case for investing in child care

Overview

Accessibility, affordability and quality of child care are the main barriers to women’s economic participation. Globally, women shoulder 76% of unpaid care work, forcing them to choose between reduced working hours, informal employment that lacks security and fair compensation, or leaving the workforce entirely.

As a result, businesses grapple with fewer qualified candidates, along with less diversity, expertise and market competitiveness. Governments face lower family earnings and income-tax revenue. An Economist Impact analysis of 15 countries projected employment income losses as high as $12bn in 2022—yet the global economic costs are even greater.

More public investment in child care could boost national GDP by as much as 1% each year, producing new job opportunities, strengthening social-protection systems, boosting financial resilience, and improving family welfare and child development.

However improving access is not child’s play. So how can policymakers, business leaders, child-care providers, financial institutions and industry associations work together to foster investment and enable sustained and inclusive growth?

Why attend

Join Economist Impact for “Growing pains: the economic case for investing in child care”, a virtual event sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This session will share research findings from a new data model, developed by Economist Impact, that quantifies the economic returns of public investment in child care. The discussion will address barriers to policy reform and share country-specific initiatives to unlock socio-economic gains.

Discussion points

Questions for discussion include:

• What do findings from Economist Impact’s report show about the correlation between improving child-care infrastructure and economic growth?
• How can policymakers use this data to secure stakeholder buy-in at the regional and national levels?
• What are the biggest barriers to more investment in child-care infrastructure and how can these be overcome?
• What responsibility do employers have in implementing policies that enable mothers to return to work?
• How can public-private partnerships ensure sustainable funding for child-care initiatives?
• What can be learned from innovative financing models and policy reforms implemented by countries that are expanding access to child care?

 

Speakers

 

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