April 28, 2022
EDUCATION

The bill to companies for ‘inadequate’ daycare in Mass.: $1 billion-plus a year

New report finds widespread turnover due to lack of available childcare in state

Jon Chesto ,

The Boston Globe

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is set to release a report on Thursday that outlines the detrimental impacts the childcare shortage is having on the state’s economy. Among the eye-popping stats: Inadequate childcare cost businesses in Massachusetts an estimated $97 million a month last summer and fall, or more than $1 billion a year — largely because of employees who have left jobs to care for their kids, and the disruption that turnover caused. From March 2020 through October 2021, 1,200 childcare providers had permanently closed in Massachusetts, according to the report; even when factoring in 725 newly opened programs, the state still had 6,200 fewer childcare openings last fall than it did before the pandemic.