The health of North Carolina’s economy is directly tied to the strength of its workforce. More than two years ago, the NC Chamber Foundation identified access to quality, affordable child care as a barrier to work for North Carolina parents.

“Affordable, quality child care supports working parents on the job, allows businesses to recruit and retain talent, and helps North Carolina children develop skills for success in school and life,” said Meredith Archie, president of the NC Chamber Foundation and senior vice president of external affairs for the NC Chamber. “The NC Chamber Foundation will continue to provide research to inform North Carolina leaders on this issue and support the business community in providing sustainable, long-term solutions.”

That promise has come to fruition with the June release of the North Carolina Task Force on Child Care and Early Education’s interim report outlining the growing gap between child care supply and demand in North Carolina late last month.

The report opens with a letter from Co-Chairs Lieutenant Governor Rachel Hunt and N.C. Senator Jim Burgin that cites a 2023 North Carolina Chamber Foundation survey where, “over one third of respondents to indicated they had turned down a job opportunity, promotion, or job change because of child care challenges, and more than a quarter of respondents said these challenges caused them to leave the workforce altogether.”

The NC Chamber Foundation’s research features prominently in the report, with the 2024 Untapped Potential in NC –  released in June 2024 in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber Foundation and NC Child – cited as a critical resource..

Building on its prior research, the NC Chamber Foundation released a new report in February 2025—Addressing North Carolina’s Child Care Crisis: Eleven Strategies to Expand Supply & Support Working Families—which outlines potential strategies that are also highlighted by the Task Force, reflecting important alignment around shared priorities to expand access and support working families.

NC Chamber President and CEO Gary Salamido and Senior Director of Government Affairs Debra Derr were both engaged in the task force’s work, which identifies six recommendations.

1. Set a statewide child care subsidy reimbursement rate floor.
2. Develop approaches to offer non-salary benefits to child care professionals.
3. Explore partnerships with the University of North Carolina System, North Carolina Community Colleges, and K-12 public school systems to increase access to child care for public employees and students.
4. Explore subsidized or free child care for child care teachers.
5. Link existing workforce compensation and support programs for early childhood professionals into a cohesive set of supports.
6. Explore the creation of a child care endowment to fund child care needs.

Some of these recommendations are addressed via the Chamber-backed House Bill 412: Child Care Regulatory Reforms, signed into law on July 1. Others are the focus of policy that is still being debated at the Legislative Building.

Consistent with the priorities of its NC Leads campaign, the NC Chamber Foundation’s future-focused research on child care positioned these policies as economic priorities for our state. We are pleased to see policymakers using the data to remove this barrier to work and connect North Carolina parents with good-paying jobs.