Child Care: A Two-Generation Solution for Boosting Oregon’s Workforce

Sixty-two percent of Oregon’s children under age 6–more than 169,000 children– have both parents (or a single parent) working outside the home, and many of these children are not in high-quality child care. This situation is detrimental to current productivity, as working parents and their employers suffer the consequences of unreliable care arrangements.

It also puts our future workforce at risk, as children’s brain development during these critical early years informs their cognition, health, and behavior throughout life. Without improvements in the child care system, continuing to boost its access, safety, and quality, our nation will not have the workforce we need to be able to compete and succeed in the global marketplace.

This report outlines the benefits of high-quality child care for the current workforce–realized through increased worker participation, stability and productivity. In addition, quality child care’s impact on children’s academic outcomes bodes well for the development of a skilled, future workforce.

The business leaders of ReadyNation Oregon call on the state’s legislature to support families’ access to affordable, safe and high-quality child care by allowing the Office of Child Care (OCC) to take action on matters such as licensing violations, creating consistent standards, increasing licensing staff, facilitating collaboration with the Department of Human Services (DHS), and creating new lead testing regulations. The yield will be a more productive workforce, both now and into the future.