High-quality, accessible child care creates a number of economic and socioeconomic benefits on both individual and national levels. Underinvestment in child care and the resulting high prices have prevented the United States from fully realizing those benefits, constraining future economic growth. 

Enacting policies to make child care affordable and accessible is crucial to help children, families and the economy. Proposals to address these issues include universal pre-kindergarten and capping out-of-pocket child care costs for parents. These investments will drive economic growth in both the near- and long-term by making it easier for parents to participate in the labor market and increasing the human capital of future workers. Investment in early childhood education alone is estimated to have large returns, yielding up to $9 in future gains for every $1 invested in the current system, creating significant benefits both for participating families and the economy as a whole.

Read the full brief here.