African Americans Are the Most Likely to Be Impacted by the Lack of Adequate Childcare

About five million U.S. households had a child under age 12 who was unable to attend childcare as a result of it being closed, unavailable, unaffordable, or because parents were concerned about the child’s safety during the pandemic, according to a new study released by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. This lack of access to childcare led to a loss of employment for one in five of those households.

Black and low-income households with a child under age 12 were more likely to report inadequate access to childcare — one third versus one quarter among all households. Looking across racial-ethnic groups, non-Hispanic Black respondents were most likely to report inadequate access to childcare. And the study shows that the childcare crisis has persisted through 2021.

“Any illusion that the childcare crises of early 2020 were transitory and now resolved is incorrect,” said the researchers. “Our study illustrates multiple and overlapping forms of disadvantage. Not only are people of color and those with lower income more likely to face inadequate access to childcare, they are also more likely to lose work because of these challenges. These job losses amplify economic precarity and efforts to stem childcare losses should be a top priority in the immediate term.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

In Memoriam: Maxine Mimms, 1928-2024

Dr. Mimms served as a faculty member at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington for two decades, including 10 years as the founding director of the college's Tacoma campus.

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

Nonwhite Patients Are Significantly More Likely to Have Preventative Care Insurance Claims Denied

Scholars from the University of Toronto have found non-White patients are nearly twice as likely as White patients to have an insurance claim denied. On average, they also pay more out-of-pocket costs when their claims are denied.

Leslie Rodriguez-McClellon Named Seventeenth President of Arkansas Baptist College

Prior to her new role, Dr. Rodriguez-McClellon was the vice president of community relations and governmental affairs at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh. She has a robust background in higher education, including service as the first African American president of Rochester Community and Technical College in Minnesota.

Featured Jobs