Childcare still remains inaccessible, costly and unreliable for countless restaurant workers

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Salon

Published December 8, 2024 5:45AM (EST)


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.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2024/12/08/childcare-still-remains-inaccessible-costly-and-unreliable-for-countless-restaurant-workers/

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Link to referenced Independent Restaurant Coalition childcare issue website - Affordable Childcare for Restaurant Workers

[Marthe48]

1. At a local family restaurant

I watched the family grow up. When the kids were crawling, a little space just behind the counter was blocked off. As the kids grew, I'd see them studying at one of the tables and later, taking orders.

[thatdemguy]

2. An old boss of mine had a stay at home wife when they had kids.

She loves kids, and they had 4, she stayed home watching them. As they got to middle school age she started watching friends kids and got licensed to do an in home day care.

He got to when he wanted to retire ( he was 62, she is 10 years younger ) and he talked to his wife, she was perfectly happy with him retired. They now watch more kids due to having a second person there. She still loves kids and they make more now than when he worked and he was the manager of an electrical contractor.

It has been going on for a few years now and I told a single mom friend of mine about it and she loves kids. She now watches 3 or 4 iirc and makes twice what she did when working.

So for a woman who loves kids, it might be a great option. Please it opens other spots for more day care options.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I expect there are a lot of arrangements like that

although the issue that can come up is whether a municipality requires some type of licensing/certification if there are more than a specified number of children (if the children are brought to the residence), plus the availability in those neighborhoods where there are a concentration of hospitality workers who need that service closer to where they live.

[thatdemguy]

6. She got fully licensed

And so did he, funny thing is a few of the kids are kids of his kids friends.

Yes they are limited, iirc they have 6 or 7 kids based on what day it is. And at a couple of hundred a week per kid ( nice area with money ), like I said she makes more than he did.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. There is definitely a need!

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[erronis]

5. Wish we had more multi-generational family groups. And perhaps more multi-family communities.

The US has become so f'in oriented to the concept of independence of the individual. And when there is a "family" in the traditional sense, it's usually controlled by an older male. Doesn't have to be this way.