Gov. Kathy Hochul challenges businesses to deepen investments in childcare

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul took a break from negotiating the delayed state budget to speak about state and private-sector investments in childcare on April 15.

“Be smart about this,” Hochul said at an event hosted by Moms First and the National Business Coalition for Childcare. The governor pointed to new research published by Moms First and McKinsey that finds nearly all parents experience childcare disruptions, signaling an economic problem. Businesses, she posited, should be working to address this.

“We’ll continue being there at the state level…but I would love to be able to say that I, in New York, also have the most enlightened, smartest, competitive, pro-family business communities anywhere in the nation.”

Her remarks come as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is seeking to fund universal childcare for all children ages 0 to 6. New York has made a $1.2 billion commitment to fund programming including free 2-K, but Mamdani’s office is eyeing a tax hike on wealthy residents to cover the rest of his commitment.

Moms First’s research highlighted a range of solutions that “foundational” employers—i.e., those that commonly employ hourly and onsite workers—are exploring to address the childcare crisis.

Childcare benefits included in the report range from subsidies to backup care to onsite care, a solution that Hochul said she was particularly fond of. She noted that Micron committed to building an on-site care center at its semiconductor manufacturing center in Clay, New York, as part of an agreement with the state.

Too costly to ignore. The Moms First report estimates US businesses lose $70 billion annually when workers’ childcare breaks down, due in part to the fact that this disruption may cause employees to miss scheduled work or leave their jobs entirely. Given the magnitude of this impact, Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First, argued it’s “fiscal malfeasance not to look at the impact of childcare on your workforce.”

While businesses can play a role in helping to solve the childcare crisis, doing so will require a “broader ecosystem” that includes government and philanthropy as well, a McKinsey employee who worked on the report said.

Stephanie Gardner, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), offered one example of how such resources come together when developing benefits. To open an on-site daycare UAMS tapped into “local government, state government, federal new market tax credits, a corporate daycare sponsor, our business, and also philanthropy,” she said. “Every piece of that was critical to make it happen.”