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    • Policies to improve care for children and the elderly exist, but political will is needed, panel says
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    Policies to improve care for children and the elderly exist, but political will is needed, panel says

    Pabio Posted on

    April Corbin Girnus
    | Nevada Current

    Boost Nevada beleaguered childcare and aged care sectors makes economic sense for the state, three reports say, and recommendations on how to get there have already been presented to policymakers.

    A new guidance note According to the Lincy Institute at UNLV and national consulting firm Tripp Umbach, the Las Vegas metro area is short about 46,100 direct care workers, which they define as people who provide hands-on assistance to older adults, to young people or the disabled. Direct care workers include child care providers and home care workers. Currently, approximately 102,300 people hold this type of job, compared to the 148,400 expected given the region’s population.

    In other words, the direct care workforce is 69% of what it should be.

    If left unaddressed, this shortage of workers is expected to worsen as the population ages and demand for aged care services increases.

    The new analysis is based on a report released early last year by a workforce development group that argued addressing child care needs would benefit businesses and the economy as a whole, according to the Nevada Current. This renewed focus comes less than three months after the 2025 session of the Nevada State Legislature.

    Advocates hoped the Covid-19 pandemic would spark greater interest in addressing the already well-documented shortage of child care and elder care.

    “Educators were considered essential workers,” recalled Jenna Weglarz-Ward, an associate professor at UNLV and research coordinator at the university’s Early Childhood Education Center, during a panel discussion on the question Monday. “I was like, ‘We did it.’ We are essential, important.

    She continued: “It was a time where it really demonstrated that we need to care about how well everything else in our society functions. You need doctors who provide child care so they can provide care to you. We need bus drivers to pay attention so you can get where you want to go. All these things. I was really optimistic.

    But much of that optimism has since faded, she acknowledged.

    “Even though we haven’t sustained this momentum,” Weglarz-Ward said, “we’re still in a better place where people can at least have conversations and figure out how to better support this sector in our society.”

    Covid relief dollars have given the industry a boost, providing both immediate aid to those in need and funding for infrastructure improvements designed to help in the long term, but that support takes END.

    Policy recommendations

    Child care is the “weakest link in the care economy,” according to Tripp Umbach’s analysis, with about 5,330 workers needed in Southern Nevada, but only 3,305 currently employed. Previous research found that 74% of Nevada children ages 0 to 5 do not have access to licensed child care.

    “Most families generally choose the program with the most convenient location,” Weglarz-Ward said. “Is it closest to my house or closest to my work?” And can I afford it? Quality is not the main deciding factor, as we will take whatever we can get that fits our budget and lives. If the quality is high, that’s a bonus.

    Low wages and a general lack of respect for these jobs both need to be addressed in order to improve the sector, panelists agreed, but these issues must be balanced by the need to keep the cost of care low for families.

    Tripp Umbach’s analysis found that the cost of child care as a percentage of income is already higher in Las Vegas than anywhere else in the country — nearly 20 percent. The percentage of family income spent on child care in comparable cities was significantly lower: Phoenix (14.4 percent for center-based child care), Denver (14 percent), and Kansas City (9.9 percent). ).

    The Governor’s Workforce Development Council, part of the Office of State Workforce Innovation (OWINN), created a task force last year to study the child care from a business perspective and make policy recommendations to the Governor and Legislature. Hugh Anderson, outgoing chair of the board, said a recurring theme was that existing regulations can be burdensome for people who want to provide in-home care and for organizations like churches that want to use existing spaces to provide child care services.

    Anderson stressed that the safety of children or adults in elder care should always be the top priority, but argued that some requirements could be changed without compromising safety. He highlighted the state’s requirement that licensed facilities have 37.5 square feet of outdoor space per child.

    Larger, more urban cities often allow nearby parks to meet outdoor space needs, he noted.

    “If there’s a park two blocks away, can (an in-home daycare provider) take the kids to the park every day? » he asked rhetorically. “These are the kinds of things we really want to clear the decks with and make it practical to find solutions.”

    The workforce development council also recommended that the state encourage businesses to use the 45F, a federal tax credit program for employers that invest in child care by offering childcare options on-site or by contracting with third-party providers.

    Anderson said the board was “stunned” by the lack of knowledge about the federal program, which he described as a “very, very important” benefit to businesses. A survey of Nevada business owners found that only about a fifth knew of such a program.

    The council also recommended that the state consider property tax reductions for employers that provide on-site child care.

    A broader goal should be to restructure the childcare and aged care sectors to allow clearer pathways for upward mobility for workers. Anderson cited nursing as an example. People can enter this health care field with a certificate requiring only a few weeks of study, then advance by gaining additional training and experience.

    On the elder care side, home care workers have benefited from the organized labor effortswho successfully lobbied for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates tied to better wages and working conditions. But the sector still faces labor problems, such as wage theft and lack of benefits, and is trying to catch up after two decades of stagnant reimbursement rates.

    And more could be done to support people who provide unpaid care to older adults, said Ji Won Yoo, director of the geriatric fellowship program at UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine.

    Wide support

    According to Tripp Umbach, about 630,000 workers in Southern Nevada are responsible for people in need of care. Less than half – 280,000 – pay for care. Most – 350,000 – rely on unpaid care, such as from family or friends, or juggle caregiving while working.

    If these workers were to leave the workforce due to their caregiving responsibilities, the negative economic impact would be estimated at $34.5 billion per year.

    Many workers, especially working-age women, have already left their careers and jobs. Nationally, a quarter of young parents are leaving the workforce due to a lack of affordable child care, and Tripp Umbach estimates that 46,200 people in Southern Nevada are unemployed because of their responsibilities unpaid family members.

    Weglarz-Ward, who began her career providing direct care before eventually joining academia, said her husband, an EMT, worked night shifts for a decade to allow them to balance caring for their four children .

    “(This) means he was very tired for 10 years,” she added. “Or he worked 24 hours a day. We really managed to balance it out. Like, what are our hours? For example, literally dropping kids off in a parking lot… It also affects the family system, because you’re not spending time with family.

    Some middle-aged workers find themselves faced with the burden of caring for both their children and aging parents. This “sandwich generation” is particularly threatened economically and emotionally.

    Paul Umbach, president and founder of Tripp Umbach, pointed to a September survey by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation showing broad support in Nevada and other swing states for federal child care and elder care policies. The survey found that 73% of Nevadans — 64% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats — favored restoring the higher pandemic-era child tax credit to a fully refundable $3,600 per child. Majorities in both parties also supported federal funding for universal preschool and subsidized child care for low- and middle-income families.

    Although this investigation focused on federal policies, state-level policy solutions already exist, Umbach argued, they just need to be offered to policymakers.

    “All it takes is someone to find the product to sell,” he said. “The ice cream we sell, there should be a long queue to eat it. Yet we don’t sell it because we’re not good at selling it. But we have to work on this. Find a way to learn from the best practices of your peers, something you can find a way to sell to the Legislature and take action on.

    Waiting for the federal government to fix the problem is not a viable option, Umbach added, “because we know what’s going to happen there.”

    “Nothing,” replied the panel moderator.

    “Less than nothing,” retorts Umbach.

    Pabio
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