At Equal, we have been following the challenging supply and demand dynamics within the $56B childcare industry since well before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most critical driver of the U.S. child care crisis today is the lack of supply coupled with the already high and growing demand for childcare, which has led to long waitlists for care and increasingly expensive tuition rates. In October 2016, the Center for American Progress reported that 42% of American children under five years of age live in areas where there is an insufficient supply of child care centers, with the problem exacerbated for the low-middle class.
