Spiking inflation intensifies concerns about affordable child care, which experts say is linked closely with economic recovery
CHICAGO (CBS) -- From the gas pumps to the checkout counter, you don't have to look far to see the effects of inflation - it's the highest we've seen in four decades.
On Tuesday, the CBS 2 Investigators asked - what are the solutions? As CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reported, some experts said one of the answers has to do with child care.
Right at first, it might be hard to see the connection. But many economists are arguing that affordable childcare and economic recovery go hand-in-hand.
Dolly Mansker, owner of Mansker's Loving Daycare Center in Calumet City, can tell you running a daycare during the COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful to say the least.
"We don't know if a kid has a cold or COVID and we can't take any chances," Mansker said. "A lot of kids didn't come back after we reopened in June. We're short on staff, teachers, teachers' assistants, supplies that we have to buy. We're not getting the funds we need to keep us going either."
Their enrollment has been down dramatically since they were allowed to reopen their doors in June 2020, with many parents opting to leave the workforce altogether during the pandemic.
"Child care is actually the backbone of the economy," said Julie Kashen, director of Women's Economic Justice at the Century Foundation.
Kashen pointed out that parents, many of them moms, having to leave the workforce contributed to the higher prices we see today.
Child care prices have been skyrocketing over the past 30 years - rising faster than the price of food and housing.
"And in childcare, that money doesn't exist because it has to come out of parents' pocketbooks, child care owners' pocketbooks. That money is just not there," Kashen said, "so we need this federal investment to make a big difference, and I think it will actually help with inflation by lowering costs."
Kashen and Mansker both support Presidents Biden's push to lower childcare costs through the Build Back Better plan, which is currently stalled.
Mansker says the help can't come soon enough.
"We're not getting the funds we need to pay the staff that we need, so we're working over and beyond the call of duty," Mansker said.
Kashen cautions that without congressional action, childcare costs will continue to rise by more than 14 percent by the year 2025.