On September 1, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing titled “Supporting Working Families: State-Led Child Care Solutions.” The hearing examined how states are addressing the labor and child care crisis and highlighted the growing need for affordable, quality child care and its relation to women in the workforce.
Women have long played a critical role in the US workforce, but in 2025 alone, more than 455,000 women exited. During the same period, the labor-force participation rate for women with bachelor’s degrees fell from 70.3% in September 2024 to 67.7% in July 2025.
Affordable, quality child care is essential for parents who want to remain or enter the workforce. During the hearing, Rep. Bonamici (OR-1) stated, “when parents can’t find quality child care, they reduce their hours, turn down promotions, or leave the workforce entirely.” Limited access to child care can make it more difficult for women to advance their careers, but also detrimental to the economy. The lack of affordable child care costs the US economy an estimated $172 billion annually in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue.
For many families, the cost of child care makes remaining in the workforce difficult. The cost of infant childcare now exceeds rent in 17 states and the cost of public college tuition in 38 states. The average cost of child care in the US has increased by more than 40% over the last decade with 29% of that increase occurring between 2020 to 2024.
Witnesses and members of Congress during the hearing cited that the country faces a shortage of child care workers, making it difficult for providers to expand their capacity even when families are looking for care.
From 2025 to 2035, an estimated 160,200 child care provider positions will open each year due to turnover. The national median pre-tax income of a child care provider is $30,370. On top of low wages, 23% of early educators rely on Medicaid for their health care.
Child care is also physically demanding and often provides workers with limited opportunities for breaks. At the same time, federal funding programs such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) do not reach all eligible families. CCDBG provides federal funding to states for child care subsidies for low-income families with children under age 13. Current funding levels allow about 14% of eligible children to participate in the program, leaving the vast majority of eligible children without access to CCDBG-supported care.
The child care workforce shortage is only projected to intensify due to recent, historically aggressive immigration enforcement that continues to impact working legal immigrants. Approximately one in five child care workers is an immigrant and 97.6 percent of immigrant child care workers are women. Changes to the immigrant workforce could therefore have consequences for an already strained child care system, particularly if providers leave the field or are unable to continue working.
States have begun developing programs to address some of these challenges. During the hearing, a representative from Kentucky discussed using CCDBG funding to provide free child care for all child care providers. Since the program was enacted, 5,300 families have received assistance.
Iowa has implemented a similar program and served 2,400 families since 2023. The state has also implemented Iowa Childcare Connect, a dashboard that shows families real-time child care availability by age, location, and commuting route. The program supports ending the child care shortage while providing policymakers with data to better address gaps within the system and provide needed resources.
CCDBG funding is essential for these programs to continue and to end the shortage of affordable child care. As Congress considers fiscal year 2027 appropriations, funding decisions will directly affect families and child care providers across the country. The bipartisan Child Care Modernization Act would strengthen the child care system by improving how states determine provider reimbursement rates.
The lack of affordable, accessible child care directly affects women’s ability to enter and remain in the workforce. Childcare continues to be underfunded while federal funding for child care declined significantly in 2025, leaving families without access to affordable and quality care. Ensuring that families can access reliable child care is essential to ensuring that women can enter the workforce, maintain their careers, and pursue opportunities for advancement.