Industries Lose Millions of Hours Over Child Care

Excerpt from:
Industries Losing Millions of Work Hours Due To Employee Child Care Problems

By Matthew Nestler, PhD
Senior Economist at KPMG
Published January 6, 2026

There were 1.1 million US households with child care problems that limited work hours in 2024, affecting 1.6 million employed individuals, according to data from the 2025 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The result was 590.9 million work hours lost and an estimated $8.9 to $17.8 billion in foregone wages.

Health care and social assistance accounted for 20.8% of affected workers. One in six of these workers were employed in eldercare (home health care, nursing homes or residential care facilities). That adds additional strain to the formal eldercare workforce already facing shortages.

The next most affected industries were leisure and hospitality (11.4%), professional and business services (10.5%), construction (9%) and retail trade (8.5%). A large share of workers also worked in manufacturing (7.7%).

Most industries had a sizable number of workers facing child care challenges. The child care crisis is not isolated to one or two industries. It affects the entire economy.

The 590.9 million lost work hours and billions in lost wages have cascading effects on businesses, including lower staffed capacity, missed output, schedule volatility, and burnout for coworkers. Over time, these dynamics erode productivity and margins and depress consumption and tax revenues, acting as a drag on growth.

You can read Dr. Nestler’s full article, posted on LinkedIn, here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/slowing-job-growth-price-increases-more-work-due-care-nestler-phd-dr9zc

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