The current unemployment rate in Iowa is 2.5%, and there are currently 40,000 people on unemployment and 60,000 job openings. As historically low unemployment continues, employers are always looking for opportunities to recruit more workers and also to retain their existing workforce. To solve this challenge, Iowa business leaders have increased wages, offered flexible work environments where possible, and expanded benefits. More recently, one of those benefits is childcare.  

Like much of the nation, Oregon is in a childcare crisis. There are openings for only one in three children under the age of five in registered childcare centers and in-home providers. This is not only a crisis for families seeking affordable and high-quality childcare, it impacts employers who are struggling to attract and retain talent in a record low unemployment environment. 

The 2019 Nation’s Report Card, released last week, showed alarming drops in reading and disappointingly middling results in math. This has huge implications for our nation’s future workforce and heartbreaking consequences for families across the country who are trusting our public education system for the most basic of learning goals.