Employment implications of child-care access in New England, pre- and post-COVID-19

Challenges accessing high-quality child care lead some parents to forego licensed care, use suboptimal care arrangements, or leave the labor market altogether. This brief explores labor market implications of child-care access challenges using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Parent Demand Survey. The sample includes nearly 2,100 New England mothers with at least one child under the age of 6 between February 2022 and April 2022. I look at employment patterns at three points in time-before the COVID-19 pandemic, at the time of the survey in early 2022, and three months later (by asking about expectations) and whether and how these patterns vary by access challenges. The data reveal that child-care users had higher employment levels and worked more hours than those who needed care but did not use it. This finding also held when comparing child-care users who used the amount of care they needed to child-care users who used less care than needed because they had trouble accessing it. These findings help us understand the employment implications of child-care gaps, defined as not having access to needed care or not having the amount of care needed.