Photo: Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels.

There’s a new report in town produced by the Massachusetts Legislature’s Future of Work Commission that says “Massachusetts will need to adapt its workforce training, public transit and child care systems to better support workers in a post COVID-19 economy,” a State House News story reports, adding:

“The report also warned that regional and racial disparities in income will also widen without intervention as white collar professions shift more easily to hybrid and remote work models, while service and manufacturing jobs offer less flexibility.”

As the report itself explains, “The Commission was formed in the spring of 2021 to investigate and evaluate the impacts of technological change and automation on work by 2030.”

The report takes into account old factors and new factors, including the impact of the pandemic.

Among the challenges the report points to, “Demand for greater access and flexibility in childcare is far outpacing supply.”

Among the report’s recommendations:

• “Close the childcare access gap for working families,” and

• “Increase salary and training opportunities for childcare workers”

And, “In addition to higher salaries for child care workers,” WGBH reports, “legislators and other commission members recommend prioritizing state funding to subsidize early education for working families so that they can fully participate in the workforce and have the time to learn new skills for future employment opportunities.”

This report findings on child care echo an earlier report from the Special Legislative Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission, which, as we’ve blogged, lays out a policy course for early education and care.

The bottom line for these two reports is that policymakers are all noticing the same thing: work doesn’t have much of a future if parents can’t find child care.

So please encourage your legislative leaders to act now and implement these reports’ child care recommendations.

A good first step is to fund the child care investments in the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget.