Iowa has a well-documented problem with child care, particularly the availability of care and the cost of it—leading to impacts on Iowa’s workforce.

• In Iowa, 14% of children (13% nationally) had family who had job changes such as quitting, changing jobs or not taking a job because of child-care problems.
• In the US, more than half of parents with young children reported being late to work or having to leave early at least once in three months.
• Almost a quarter reported being fired for it.
• Women and people of color carried most of the impact.
• Problems with child care cost the US economy $122 billion a year in lost earnings, productivity, and taxes.

This is according to a new report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which coordinates KIDS COUNT, an initiative gathering quality data on child and family well-being for legislators.

“A state like Iowa, on a lot of indicators of child well-being, we look better than average,” said Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa, which is part of the KIDS COUNT network. “But even states that look better than average still have incredible struggles with child care.”

Every year, the organization releases a data book that measures and ranks the well-being of American children based on economic well-being, education, health, and community and family. This year, the report also dug into the impacts of the lack of child care in the US, with data for every state.

Discher said there’s no easy way to tackle this issue...

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