It’s hard to make a dollar in child care, Partnership leader says

It’s never been easy to turn a profit from child care, says Candy Scott, head of Johnston County’s Partnership for Children.

“Most child-care businesses are lucky if they break even at the end of the month,” she said in an email.

COVID-19 put even more strain on the bottom line, Scott said. “The pandemic made it worse when enrollments plummeted,” she said.

Enrollment has recovered since the pandemic’s end. “But it is not at the same level,” Scott said.

The pandemic also brought on changes that have disrupted the longstanding child-care business model, Scott said. “Many parents work from home now and not always on a conventional schedule, which doesn’t align with traditional child-care business hours,” she said.

By far, the biggest threat to a day-care center’s survival is the lack of qualified staff, Scott said. Put bluntly, in this economy, few people can afford to work for what most child-care providers can afford to pay.

“The average hourly pay in child care is $12-$13 per hour with little to no benefits,” Scott said. “Today, that is not a living wage. Plenty of other jobs do not require as much from an individual and pay better.”

Working in child care is an honorable profession, Scott said. “But it is challenging physically and emotionally,” she said. “The pay does not align with the complexity and responsibility of the work.”

That fact became acutely clear during the pandemic, Scott said. “Our child-care workforce risked their lives to care for our children,” she said, “and they did not feel valued at all because they were expected to show up every day for the same low wages and no benefits.”

Child-care providers are under financial pressure to respond, Scott said. “The workforce crisis and increased demand for a living wage are driving costs up,” she said.

So is inflation, Scott added. “The rising cost of supplies, food, utilities and rent is also a factor,” she said.

But it’s not easy for child-care providers to respond to higher costs with higher rates, Scott said. “Families are already struggling to pay for child care, which can often exceed tuition costs at a four-year college,” she said. “Raising rates will strain working families and force more parents out of the workforce.”

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