MORE than half (67%) of 120 small business owners surveyed by the Main Street Alliance said investment in child care infrastructure is equally or more important than investment in traditional infrastructure to support their business.

Representing 15 industries across 24 states, 89% of small business owners said they support investments in child care and 74% support a federal paid leave program.

IN regard to paid leave, 89% of the 120 small business owners in the Main Street Alliance survey said they support a national paid leave program that provides 12 weeks for employees to care for themselves or a loved one and the birth or adoption of a child. And when it comes to child care, 90% of small business owners support a major federal increase that would cap low- and middle-class family child care expenses at 7% and pay child care workers a fair wage.

HOW would the federal government pay for these investments? Ninety percent of small business owners surveyed said paid leave and 93% said child care investments should be paid “by a tax increase on the wealthy and large corporations so they pay their fair share.”

SMALL business owners expressed such robust support for these programs because they’re struggling to compete without them. Eightyeight percent of small business owners indicated they faced one or more business challenges due to a lack of affordable child care and a paid leave program that covers small businesses. The most commonly cited challenges were: competition with larger corporations for recruitment (48%), employee morale and stress (45%), and challenges with hiring or retaining employees (36%).

AS many as 560,000 child care workers (43.5%) nationwide would receive a pay raise if the minimum wage were raised to $15 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s 2021 Raise the Wage Act. The vast majority (95.4%) of child care workers who would get a raise are women, and 36.2% are Black or Hispanic.