A lack of affordable, accessible child care empties $6.2 billion from the pockets of Illinois’ working parents and the productivity of their employers, perpetuating an enormous drag on the state’s economy.

That’s the dire conclusion of a new ReadyNation report, and business leaders say it underscores the need for increasing public investments in child care and related early childhood programs to help return the state’s workforce and economy to better footing.

“Without adequate child care for working parents, there is no stable, productive workforce — and therefore, no fully functioning economy,” said Mike Murphy, President & CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. The former restaurant owner and state legislator joined several other ReadyNation members in releasing the report at a well-covered, March 31 state capitol news event.

Report findings are based on extensive economic analysis of a poll of 403 working parents, conducted in October and November 2025. The respondents — parents of children under age 5 — related the effects of their struggles to find available and affordable child care, ranging from depressed work productivity to diminished career opportunities. Among other things:

• About three out of five parents said child care problems had made them late for work, prompted them to leave work early, or distracted them on the job during the preceding three months
• Since the birth or adoption of their children, many parents noted they had seen their pay or hours cut (28%), had been fired (16%), or had to quit a job (21%) due to child care hassles.
• Over one-third of parents said child care challenges had forced them to turn-down job offers or further education and training; one-quarter had to refuse promotions.

“It’s not only heartbreaking but incredibly counterproductive when countless, willing workers are unable to fully participate in the job market — or are forced to leave it — because they are unable to piece-together necessary child care options for their kids,” said Kayla Edwards, Managing Partner for Express Employment Professionals of Springfield, Bloomington, and Jacksonville.

Participants in the report-release news conference were ReadyNation members Mike Murphy, Amanda Wike, Kayla Edwards, and Rudy Valdez, as well as Chatham mom Tiffani Saunders.

Analyzing these and similar findings, an economist calculated an annual loss of $4.83 billion in wages and job-search costs for working parents of young children, said Amanda Wike, Executive Director of the Dixon Chamber of Commerce & Main Street. She added that child care problems further reduce employers’ productivity — while driving up their turnover, hiring, and training costs — by $1.34 billion.

That $6.2 billion total doesn’t account for additional losses to our future workforce, added Rudy Valdez, a retired aerospace executive who is President of an economic-development corporation called South West Ideas for Today & Tomorrow in Rockford. “High-quality child care and related early learning programs … lay a foundation for skills development that is critical for students’ success in school, and then their success in jobs and careers,” he said, explaining too many children already go without those vital services.

Tiffani Saunders, a working parent from Chatham, joined the report-release event to explain the ways that she had struggled to access, navigate, and maintain child care and other early childhood programs for her daughter. All these perspectives and data amplify ReadyNation’s call for greater state and federal investments in critical birth-to-5 services. 

In fact, ReadyNation’s economic-impact calculations have been cited in a “dear colleague” letter that 40 GOP members of the U.S. House of Representatives recently signed in support of “robust” Child Care Development Block Grant funding for the coming fiscal year. Signatories include two Illinois congressmen, Reps. Darin LaHood and Mike Bost.

Meanwhile, the Illinois report release has already generated more than two-dozen news stories statewide, from TV to radio broadcasts. ReadyNation will be sharing its report and resulting news coverage with policymakers during the coming months.

Image at top:  Chatham working mom Tiffani Saunders speaks at the report’s statehouse release event, surrounded by ReadyNation members Mike Murphy, Amanda Wike, Kayla Edwards, and Rudy Valdez.

To read ReadyNation Illinois’ new report, click here. For a fact sheet summarizing its findings, click here.