For many service workers and restaurant employees, access to reliable and affordable childcare continues to be a major struggle within the industry. It’s no secret that the United States has a childcare crisis that’s only worsened in recent years. As of 2021, roughly half of Americans live in so-called “child care deserts,” areas where there’s only one daycare spot for every three kids, according to the Department of the Treasury. An astounding 74% of mothers and 66% of fathers have been forced to leave work early, arrive to work late or skip it entirely due to “last-minute childcare disruptions,” per the Independent Restaurant Coalition. To make matters worse, childcare workers make an average of $30,370 a year, placing them in the bottom 2% of occupations.
Restaurant workers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to securing childcare. Unlike a standard 9-to-5 job, which now offers some flexibility with remote working, restaurant shifts are exclusively in-person and often early in the morning or late at night — times when childcare facilities are often unavailable. A disproportionate number of restaurant employees are also single mothers. Nearly 3.5 million parents work in the food industry and more than one million of those employees are single mothers, a 2016 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) found. Forty percent of the one million single mothers live in poverty, the report added.
“While larger paychecks, improved scheduling, and comprehensive healthcare are all pieces of the puzzle for solving the labor crisis, childcare is the issue business owners are not talking about or addressing enough, not only within the restaurant industry but across many business sectors,” Joanna Fantozzi wrote back in February for Nation’s Restaurant News.
The childcare crisis has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, which resulted in widespread dining room and daycare closures. In an effort to make childcare more accessible, the Texas Restaurant Association launched its Employers for Childcare Task Force (E4C), which works with employers, companies, lawmakers and administrators to address the key issues of affordability and access. In November, the task force drafted a plan for reducing the cost and expanding the availability of childcare, Restaurant Business reported. The blueprint pulls inspiration from state-based childcare initiatives, like Kentucky’s Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership Program (ECCAP), along with their strongest, most efficient policies. As explained by Restaurant Business’ Peter Romeo, the draft plan includes everything from creating an information resource center to launching a grant program “whereby [childcare] providers would vie for funding to expand their services into market areas where the need for more care facilities is particularly acute.”
The plan also pushes for the use of tax credits to split the cost of childcare between employers and employees. The Independent Restaurant Coalition has advocated for similar improvements to current federal tax provisions. They include calling for the expansion of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) to help cover the high costs of childcare, raising the $5,000 benefit limit set in the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) and providing more resources to restaurants to allow for the implementation of the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (45F).
Additionally, the coalition is urging Congress to prioritize several bills that prioritize affordable childcare solutions for restaurant employees. There’s the Child Care Investment Act of 2023, which would enhance the three existing tax credits (CDCTC, DCAP, and 45F); the Affordable Childcare Act, which doubles all three tax credits; and the Promoting Affordable Childcare for Everyone (PACE) Act, which modifies the CDCTC to increase the rate for the tax credit and make the credit refundable.
Nationwide efforts are attempting to bolster childcare and make it a viable resource for service industry workers. As written by Fantozzi, “Childcare is the complex issue the restaurant industry is not talking about enough.” It’s about time that childcare is taken seriously.
