Childcare still remains inaccessible, costly and unreliable for countless restaurant workers

Source: Salon

Published December 8, 2024 5:45AM (EST)


For many service workers and restaurant employees, access to reliable and affordable childcare continues to be a major struggle within the industry. It’s no secret that the United States has a childcare crisis that’s only worsened in recent years. As of 2021, roughly half of Americans live in so-called “child care deserts,” areas where there’s only one daycare spot for every three kids, according to the Department of the Treasury.

An astounding 74% of mothers and 66% of fathers have been forced to leave work early, arrive to work late or skip it entirely due to “last-minute childcare disruptions,” per the Independent Restaurant Coalition. To make matters worse, childcare workers make an average of $30,370 a year, placing them in the bottom 2% of occupations. Restaurant workers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to securing childcare.

Unlike a standard 9-to-5 job, which now offers some flexibility with remote working, restaurant shifts are exclusively in-person and often early in the morning or late at night — times when childcare facilities are often unavailable. A disproportionate number of restaurant employees are also single mothers. Nearly 3.5 million parents work in the food industry and more than one million of those employees are single mothers, a 2016 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) found.

Forty percent of the one million single mothers live in poverty, the report added. “While larger paychecks, improved scheduling, and comprehensive healthcare are all pieces of the puzzle for solving the labor crisis, childcare is the issue business owners are not talking about or addressing enough, not only within the restaurant industry but across many business sectors,” Joanna Fantozzi wrote back in February for Nation’s Restaurant News.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2024/12/08/childcare-still-remains-inaccessible-costly-and-unreliable-for-countless-restaurant-workers/