1.2 What keeps West Virginians from participating in the workforce? Limited Access to Dependent Care Services as a Workforce Barrier

West Virginia has experienced persistent low labor force participation rates (LFPR) [12]– the lowest among all U.S. states and Washington D.C. since the late 1940s, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) first started collecting these data. A healthy LFPR is a driver of long-term economic growth and associated with greater economic output (GDP) and higher tax revenues. In 2019, West Virginia’s average LFPR was 55.1 percent and the nation’s average LFPR was 63.1 percent [13] . The LFPR for West Virginia women was 50.5 percent [14] compared to 57.4 percent for U.S. women. 

In West Virginia, dependent care insufficiencies – mainly related to availability and affordability – are reported to be the biggest impediments for people who are on the sidelines and trying to enter or re-enter the workforce. Those who are currently employed, especially women and family caregivers, also report difficulties advancing in their careers and working fewer hours due to dependent care challenges. For the purposes of this analysis, dependent care means the provision of care to children, the elderly and adults with disabilities. Initiatives aimed at addressing this workforce barrier could help a higher percentage of the state’s population become more productive members of the economy. Although not all parents and caregivers would like to join the labor force, those who do often cannot take up employment without access to dependent care services.

Caregiving stands out … as a quantitatively important determinant of nonparticipation and represents the largest number of individuals that one could plausibly try to shift into the labor force. Of course, many individuals would choose to devote themselves to nonmarket caregiving work regardless of public policy. But some people prefer to work and do not do so because of remediable impediments to their participation [15].

Most importantly, dependent care services support a region’s overall economic output (GDP) through two separate economic channels: (1) added education and training and (2) increased workforce participation [16]. Education and training improve the quality of the workforce whereas the participation rate affects the size of the workforce. Both factors are key determinants in business attraction and retention as well as income levels and poverty rates [17]. Notably, a 2006 study commissioned by the Gates Foundation found that 22 percent of high school dropouts leave school to care for a family member [18].

Both businesses and the government are progressively becoming more aware that workers’ absenteeism is strongly correlated with a lack of access to dependable dependent care services, and, as a result, taking steps to address this issue. For example, WVU Medicine, the state’s largest private employer, subsidizes child care for its employees because the entity [19] sees it as a major workforce barrier and a top way to attract and retain talent. Additionally, working parents and caregivers often opt to either work for companies that provide dependent care benefits or relocate to communities where they can find the type of support and services they need to participate in the labor force.

Policymakers are also increasingly recognizing the importance of measures that seek to support working parents and caregivers and prevent them from leaving the labor force. A recent example was the enactment of a federal law guaranteeing 12 weeks of paid parental leave [20] to federal employees and the ensuing measures introduced [21] – and some approved [22] – at the county and state levels in West Virginia. Such measures are direct responses to the need of addressing dependent care issues that affect the workforce, especially because child care providers only accept infants who are six weeks old and older. Additionally, in late 2019, the federal government issued a statement on principles for child care reform, with the main goal of increasing access to affordable, high quality child care. The statement also invites actors to come up with ideas to modernize child care business models to allow providers to stay afloat and meet the needs of American families [23].