Economic Impact Calculator for Businesses
How to Use the Calculator
To use the calculator, input the total employees in their organization, total employees with children under the age of six, and total annual wages and salaries.
Once populated, the tool populates the total annual financial loss caused by child care issues which is further broken down by lost wages due to parent absences, indirect and direct losses to business, and the replacement cost for employees who quit due to lack of child care.
How to Take Action Using Business Workforce Calculator Data
Now that you know the financial impact of child care breakdowns on your business, you can influence policy changes to increase public investment in high-quality early care and education Your advocacy will benefit young children, families, and the economy in Louisiana. Here’s how you can get involved:
- Contact your legislator and let them know the total impact child care instability has on your business and the importance of improving Louisiana’s early care and education infrastructure. Click here to find your legislator’s contact information.
- Join statewide advocacy coalitions, like Ready Louisiana Coalition or the Louisiana Early Childhood Business Roundtable (for executive business leaders), which provide opportunities to share your voice about this critical issue. (To join, email Candace Weber at cweber@policyinstitutela.org).
- Support your employees directly:
- School Readiness Tax Credits
- Child care subsidies
- Helping employees find child care
- Employer-sponsored child care options (e.g., backup Care, dependent care benefits, micro centers, etc).
The Louisiana Policy Institute for Children developed a new calculator tool for Louisiana businesses to assess their annual financial impact due to child care breakdowns.
Default assumptions in the blue boxes are based on the findings for Louisiana businesses in the 2021 Child Care and Economy Report.