The chronic understaffing of childcare centres is exacerbating the problem for mums who do want to stay in the workforce. Even with Covid-19 waning, childcare centres are still continuing to haemorrhage workers and failing to make up pre-pandemic ground. More than 100,000 jobs were lost in the sector between February 2020 and September 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Some anecdotes from childcare providers detail losing employees to retail and other service positions, where many companies are offering high hourly rates and bonuses.
