Video: Republican Witness Says Child Care Needs a Primary Factor Limiting Workforce Participation, Early Learning Programs Key to Future Workforce Development
Washington, D.C. - During a House hearing Wednesday, Brent Orrell, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) that lack of child care was one of the primary factors keeping workers from returning to the workforce, according to a poll conducted by the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Orrell also stressed the importance of early learning in future workforce development.
The exchange came during a hearing of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth titled “Our Changing Economy: The Economic Effects of Technological Innovation, Automation and the Future of Work.” Orrell was selected by Republicans on the committee to serve as an expert witness.
As the New Member Representative for the Democratic Women’s Caucus and a House co-lead of the Universal Child Care Act and Early Learning Act, Congresswoman Jacobs has been pushing for substantial investments in child care and pre-K in the Build Back Better Act. A specific provision advanced by Jacobs to extend child care subsidies to those households making 250% of State Median Income was included in the legislative text last week.
The transcript of the exchange was as follows:
Congresswoman Jacobs: Mr. Orrell, I wanted to start with you. Quickly, I just wanted to level set, you are the witness that the Republicans on the committee have invited. You work at a right-leaning think-tank, and I just wanted to clarify that you said, that the most important, one of the most important solutions to what we're talking about right now is child care and early learning and that the lack of child care is one of the key contributors keeping people out of the workforce is that correct?
Mr. Brent Orrell: It is correct that in the poll that we conducted in June of unemployed workers that care for children was one of the main things that workers said was keeping them out of the out of the workforce.
Congresswoman Jacobs: Can you briefly elaborate on why early learning is fundamental to making sure we're preparing for a changing world of work?
Mr. Brent Orrell: Early learning is critical because it lays the foundation for all future learning. If we don't pay attention to that I think we have a very, we create more hurdles down the road. So yes, early learning. And I wouldn’t say this isn't just formal education, I would say this is also about family formation, about not losing, not breaking the linkages of intergenerational learning between parents and children. That is a tough problem and and I believe that it is the fundamental basis of most of the other problems that we're encountering
Congresswoman Jacobs: Alright, so maybe also making the case for paid family leave, great!
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