Child care has three distinct roles in Colorado’s economy:

1. It provides early care and education for 335,000 children under age 5, preparing them for future success in school and work.
2. Child care is an essential workforce support for parents and their employers.
3. Nearly 5,000 licensed child care businesses generate millions in annual revenues, create thousands of jobs and support higher output multipliers for other economic sectors.

Why Are Employers Interested in Early Care and Education?

• Access and affordability for early care and education affect an employee’s ability to work. When employees are worrying about child care, productivity is impacted and employees miss work to stay home with sick children, or decide to quit work because of child care problems.
• Financial implications for your business are real. “Bottom lines” suffer as productivity declines and employee turnover costs compound.
• Employers are devising creative ways to invest in their employees. Businesses are creating policies and benefits attractive to employees and those being recruited. With more than two-thirds of young children in Colorado living in households where all adults are in the workforce, attention to child care has risen to a new level.
• Federal and state tax deductions and credits make business investment in child care more affordable while the costs for families hit new heights and approach the level of college tuition. To support working parents, federal Dependent Care Flexible Spending Arrangements are offered by nearly 9 out of 10 large companies. IRS Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, provides information for Dependent Care Assistance Page 9 through an FSA. Colorado’s Child Care Contribution Tax Credit is a 50% state income tax credit for contributions to child care facilities as community investment.

Employers can ease the burden of child care on their employees, creating more productivity in the workplace by:

1. Increasing Access to Quality Child Care
2. Supporting Affordable Child Care
3. Developing Family-Friendly Policies and Procedures
4. Informing Employees of Federal Tax Supports

Learn more about how your company and your employees can benefit from providing better child care solutions by downloading EPIC’s Employer Toolkit, designed to draw connections between early childhood and workplace productivity.