By Hayleigh Colombo
A new survey of Ohio parents and registered voters found that lack of access to affordable childcare is a major burden keeping parents, especially mothers, out of the workforce.
Sixty percent of non-working or part-time working mothers in the state would go back to work if they had access to quality childcare at a reasonable cost, according to a new statewide survey by national political polling firm Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of advocacy group Groundwork Ohio.
The survey of 800 registered voters, including 400 parents with children younger than 5, also found that 43% of Ohio’s working parents have had to cut back on hours in in order to care for their children this year.
Nearly half of parents with young children have had “serious problems meeting work (and) family responsibilities, serious problems affording childcare or serious programs with childcare that have impacted their work," according to the survey.