Published: MARCH 7, 2024
By Rob Moore, Ohio Capital Journal
In a recent Cleveland.com article, Jeremy Pelzer reported that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce has been expressing public concerns about Ohio’s child care market.
The general argument being made by Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, is that workers need child care options if they want to go to work. If child care options are too expensive or not readily available, potential workers will opt out of the workforce.
This will reduce Ohio’s labor force participation rate, which will drive up costs for labor and will run Ohio companies out of business.
This reasoning is sound and reflects an immediate problem for Ohio businesses. If workers cannot afford child care, they will opt to care for children on their own rather than pay the cost of child care.
