Senator Reverend Warnock Champions Federal Efforts to Strengthen Child Care to Help Get Georgians to Work, Keep Economy Moving Forward

Press Release

Last week, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a key member of the Senate Banking committee, highlighted the fundamental need to secure strong federal investments to support child care providers as a means to strengthen the educational outcomes of Georgia's children and help Georgia parents recover from the economic pains of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a Banking committee hearing entitled "The Role of Child Care in an Equitable Post-Pandemic Economy", Senator Warnock emphasized the challenges child care providers faced prior to the pandemic from parents being saddled with unaffordable prices to child care workers not being competitively compensated, especially in communities of color and communities with low incomes. During the hearing, Senator Warnock stressed the benefits of subsidizing child care to support high-quality childhood development in Georgia, providing Georgia's children the tools and opportunity to thrive at an early age.

"Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the child care industry faced many challenges. Child care was unaffordable for many families at the same time child care workers were underpaid," said Senator Reverend Warnock. "In 2020, childcare work ranked among the bottom 2% by salary before the pandemic, with educators with all of their training, making just over $12 an hour. In Georgia, workers in unsubsidized centers earned an average of $10.14 an hour."

"These challenges disproportionately affect women, particularly Black and Brown women who make up the bulk of the child care workforce. During the pandemic child care providers faced record low enrollment, forcing providers to reduce costs by paying even lower wages or laying off the staff," continued Senator Warnock.

During his questioning of the hearing witnesses, Senator Warnock discussed the importance of paying child care workers a livable wage and its impact on early childhood development, as well as the role the federal government should play in keeping the child care industry strong. Senator Warnock also pressed the witnesses to discuss how the burden of a lack of child care and unaffordable pricing have hampered Georgia parents' ability to work and thrive in our economy--stressing how investing in child care could improve economic outcomes for working families in Georgia and nationwide.

Source