​​$2.4 Billion: The Annual Cost of PA’s Child Care Crisis for Working Mothers

Working mothers face many pressures when their children are young, juggling work commitments with their responsibilities as primary caregivers. These pressures are heightened when child care options are limited. Inadequate child care adversely impacts mothers’ ability to work and to have successful careers. In turn, this costs our economy in earnings, business productivity, and tax revenues. This report shows the full negative economic impact for working mothers in Pennsylvania when their child care is inadequate. Using new survey data on 307 mothers with children aged under 5, the report estimates an annual economic cost of $2.4 billion.