An Invisible Child Care Challenge

TL;DR

Many parents, like Desiree from Santa Rosa, California, struggle to find childcare that matches their non-traditional work hours and unpredictable schedules.
Current childcare policy often overlooks the impact of work schedule quality, focusing narrowly on cost, availability, and quality of care.
A significant portion of U.S. employees face issues with scheduling predictability, stability, and control, disproportionately affecting lower-income households and certain job sectors.
Low-quality job schedules make it difficult to utilize formal childcare programs and can lead to loss of public assistance.
Parents with unpredictable schedules often rely on informal care arrangements, which can be unstable and potentially unsafe for children.
Fair workweek policies, implemented in several cities and states, require employers to provide scheduling certainty and limit last-minute changes, showing positive impacts on parents' well-being.
These policies have not led to feared negative labor market impacts and can also help address issues related to precarious part-time work.
Integrating fair workweek considerations into childcare policy discussions and vice versa is crucial for supporting working families.

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