Too few childcare workers and the extreme cost of childcare are hardest on rural families. Utah is an example.

The childcare shortage is more dire in
rural areas. (Photo by Kracken, Unsplash)

Across the U.S., roughly 51% of American families live in a childcare desert, and 70% of rural parents report struggling to find any licensed caregivers with an opening, according to a new survey from the Center for American Progress. And even when parents are lucky enough to find a provider, they often struggle to afford it.

Both issues — the cost of care and the childcare worker shortage — are particularly acute in Utah, where "licensed providers meet only about 36% of the need, with rural communities facing significant shortages," reports Mark Richardson of UPR, which serves Utah and Southern Idaho.

Casey Peeks, the center's senior director of early childhood policy, told UPR, "You can make childcare free for every family living in a rural community tomorrow, but that's not going to solve the access." Peeks said that while addressing cost is important, developing and supporting childcare workers is equally vital.

Like many other states, the lack of childcare workers hurts Utah's treasury. "The childcare shortage costs Utah an estimated $1.3 billion each year in wages and productivity," UPR reports.

Utah lawmakers have been working to address childcare expenses by "expanding tax credits for employers that provide childcare, increasing the Child Tax Credit, and extending paid maternity leave for state employees," Richardson explains. But none of those changes increase the number of childcare workers.

To increase the number of childcare providers, the profession needs to be reassessed both in terms of importance and wages. Hailey Gibbs, associate director of the center's early-childhood policy team, told UPR that workers are often seen as getting "paid to play." Richardson adds, "The annual cost of childcare in Utah is between $7,000 and $10,000. A childcare worker is paid about $15 an hour on average."

Policymakers and voters need a better understanding "about child development and the needs of young children," Gibbs told Richardson, "and also the returns that children see in their education, in their health outcomes, even in their adult earnings when they have these kinds of really enriching early opportunities.”

Richardson adds, "Gibbs said the data shows the need for comprehensive solutions that address both cost and availability, starting with better wages for childcare professionals."

States work on their own solutions to address shortages of rural child care providers

In-home child care businesses often don't provide 
caregivers with a livable wage. (Adobe Stock photo)

When it comes to accessing quality, affordable child care, rural parents face a unique set of challenges, among which finding a nearby child care provider can be the most difficult.

The reasons rural child care providers remain scarce include licensing fees and paperwork confusion, costly governmental ordinance requirements, rigid educational demands and an overall inability to make a livable wage. The list makes opening a home daycare an unrealistic small-business option.

In an effort to address the dearth of child care providers, "some states are implementing their own novel solutions to address the shortage," reports Anne Vilen for The Daily Yonder.

Child care operators in Junction City, Kansas, were limited by "contradictory state and city statutes," Vilen explains. "Ultimately, the city eliminated its local zoning fees and aligned local statutes with state licensing requirements."

Along with licensing fees and zoning stipulations, potential home child care owners must meet specific state educational benchmarks. "In rural Alaska, for example, where few communities have access to colleges and where many homes lack reliable internet, obtaining the credentials to get licensed can be especially onerous," Vilen writes.

To help child care workers meet their educational certifications, an Alaska task force developed a program that allowed caregivers "alternative pathways that recognize a provider’s experience," Vilen writes.

Even with other obstacles reduced or removed, making a livable wage with home child care remains elusive. Vilen reports, "In rural areas, where wages are already low, parents working in agriculture or manufacturing often cannot afford higher childcare fees."

Some rural communities also are "testing guaranteed-income programs that boost childcare wages," Vilen explains. "Kansas’s Baby Steps program provides quarterly stipends specifically to providers caring for infants."