In Wyoming alone, 285 daycares have shuttered in the past 15 years, and there were only about 850 to begin with. One town has a fresh idea to help bring a child care option back to their community.

National Bureau of Economic Research data backs view that early childhood education brings many benefits. Yet most 4-year-olds don’t attend.

Congress committed $39 billion in federal funds to support the child care industry during the pandemic, but those funds are now drying up. Now, many child care providers plan to raise tuition.

Staffing shortages and high turnover have dogged the early education and child care field for years. The pandemic has made them acute issues.

The worker-owned co-op shut down in the spring due to staffing shortages. It reopened by raising wages and tuition.

Milli Pintacsi’s child care operation was expanding, and enrollment had reached full capacity. Then the pandemic shut down the business.

“I think I made the best decision I could,” said Whitney Robinson, a professor and public health expert.

Roopam Carroll runs a day care center in Nottingham, England. She explains how caregivers enable other kinds of work.

Many working parents were already struggling. Then the pandemic hit.

COVID-19 has driven women’s unemployment rate higher than men’s and could worsen the gender pay gap in the long term.