High-quality, affordable child care.

“Pennsylvania’s child care system is in crisis stemming from a historic staffing shortage driven by low wages. On this Mother’s Day, we are asking Pennsylvania policymakers to focus on what the Commonwealth’s working mothers really need – child care.

“So, please skip the flowers and find the resources necessary to stabilize our child care system by paying these qualified educators a livable wage.

“Female labor force participation contributes $7.6 trillion to the US GDP every year. In Pennsylvania, women comprise almost two-thirds of the essential workforce (i.e., health care, retail food, and distribution) and were key to providing vital infrastructure services and helping to keep the economy running during the pandemic.

“In the current labor shortage that is impacting all sectors, it is vital to the success of our economy to maintain the female labor force. This means supporting the ‘workforce behind the workforce’; child care.

“The average wage of child care teachers in Pennsylvania is $12.43 per hour. At this wage, approximately 21% of child care staff rely on SNAP benefits and 21% are insured by Medicaid.”

— “Don’t send us flowers for Mother’s Day. Stabilize Pa.’s child care sector instead,” an opinion piece by Tameko Patterson, Diane Cornman-Levy, and Cindy Hall, The Pennsylvania Capital-Star, May 11, 2023