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Workforce Barriers
Confronting workforce barriers to get ready for work
West Virginia has the lowest workforce participation rate among women in the United States (less than 50%), which impacts individuals, families, the overall workforce as well as the financial health and future of the state.
Understanding the barriers that prevent women from entering or staying in the workforce can help enhance West Virginia’s workforce and increase our overall economic prosperity. Two of those barriers are 1) access to dependent care for working parents and families who seek care for young children, older adults and family members with disabilities and 2) access to appropriate work clothing.
Rethinking dependent care options.
West Virginia needs more people in the workforce, but the lack of affordable and accessible care for children and dependent adults forces caregivers to miss work or leave the workforce altogether.
What’s at stake?
West Virginia has an opportunity to be a leader in re-thinking dependent care that enables more people to work. With greater workforce participation, our economy could thrive. With only about half of women in the workforce, we are missing talent that can help increase prosperity.
Accessibility.
Center-based infant care for one child costs almost a third of an average family’s income. Adult Day Health Care costs almost two-thirds of a minimum wage worker’s salary. Reducing cost is difficult. In the case of child care businesses, most program costs are in staffing, yet the average pay for a child care worker is $20,000. Other challenges dependent care providers face include high operational costs, inadequate reimbursement rates, difficulties in attracting and retaining workers and public underinvestment. These issues result in the unavailability of care options in many areas.
Impact.
If West Virginia slightly increased childcare accessibility from ranking 50th to 45th.
-
Increase workforce participants by
4,000 -
Increase economic impact by
300 Million
Making a difference.
West Virginia must add more people to the workforce, but the lack of affordable and accessible care for children and dependent adults often forces working families to miss work or leave their jobs altogether. Coupled with regulatory and financial challenges caregiving businesses confront regularly to stay open, there is a dire need to modernize West Virginia’s dependent care.
Now is the time for West Virginia to reimagine dependent care options that help care providers stay in business and meet the needs of working families in the aftermath of COVID-19. If successful, the state can help established care businesses grow and new care providers open, relieve some of the undue burdens on working parents and caregivers, provide more productive and flexible workdays for employers and offer more incentives for women to join the workforce.
WV Women Moving Forward will be releasing new research in Fall 2020 on how to improve dependent care business models to help West Virginia families, businesses and economies thrive. More information is forthcoming.
Get involved.
WV Women Moving Forward volunteers are supporting workforce flexibility, collecting data and exploring innovative solutions to accessible dependent care options. Support these efforts by emailing wvforward@mail.wvu.edu.
Opportunities to get ready for work.
West Virginia’s greatest asset is our people, yet too many people face obstacles to sharing their talents in the workplace. No one should miss out on a job because of a lack of work clothes. Targeted clothing drives can help West Virginians get Ready for Work.
Making a difference.
Host Ready for Work clothing drives in your area that collect specific items for local charities serving clients in your community. You can make a difference.
Employment and non-profit organizations report trouble meeting the overwhelming demands to help support people trying to get appropriate clothing to go to work. WV Forward has identified resource organizations and their clients’ most in-demand work clothes.
Needed items:
- Solid color scrubs
- Non-slip shoes
- Closed toe professional shoes
- Plus-size clothes
- Black pants
- White button-down shirts
- Suits
- Professional maternity clothes