Economy

Child care is essential to reopening the economy – CNN

Published

4 years ago

July 3, 2020

Even before the pandemic, millions of parents could not find quality, affordable child care that matched their work hours or their ZIP codes.

Long waitlists for a child care slot were routine. Now, across the United States, the pandemic has created significantly greater challenges for American families to secure safe, accessible care for their children with facility closures, reduced capacity, and new financial strains on programs, providers, staff and parents.

In an April survey of more than 5,000 providers by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, nearly half reported that they were completely closed. The Center for American Progress (CAP) estimates that without adequate federal support, the coronavirus pandemic could permanently eliminate 4.5 million child care spots — nearly 50% of US child care capacity, which was already far below our country’s needs.

People simply cannot return to their jobs if they’re unable to find care for their children. For the economy to reopen fully, Congress must provide meaningful, robust child care relief for families and providers.

That is why we introduced the Child Care for Economic Recovery Act, legislation that addresses the most pressing needs of millions of working parents and families, like those we represent in New York and Massachusetts. The legislation builds on congressional efforts to address the varied needs now being recognized in the child care space, including stabilizing the child care sector through the Child Care is Essential Act, and improving child care facilities for the health and safety of children.

To ease the untenable bind facing American families, our legislation would more than triple guaranteed federal child care funding from $2.9 billion a year to $10 billion a year for the next five years, with state match requirements for the increase temporarily suspended, to help more low- and middle-income families afford care.

This funding would both support work and reduce disparities in child care accessibility and the education opportunity gap, and the multiyear funding would provide employers and workers with certainty and stability during the economic recovery.

Our bill also includes a landmark $10 billion for grants to states to help assess long-term structural challenges child care facilities face, and make essential adaptations, reconfigurations and expansions in response to coronavirus.

The legislation would specifically support essential workers, with $850 million in Social Services Block Grant funding — until September 30, 2021 — to states in consultation with the states’ lead child care agencies for fast funding to support child care — and adult day care for adults who can’t care for themselves — for those who have had to be on the job during this crisis and need support to keep their families healthy and safe while they help their communities.

Recognizing several states have deemed child care workers essential, our bill goes further to make this recognition at the federal level for all child care workers.

Child care is not a luxury — it’s a necessity, which is why our bill makes the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit fully refundable for the first time, so that it is fully accessible to the families who need it most. And our bill goes further to double the amount of qualified child and dependent care expenses to $6,000 for one qualifying individual and $12,000 for two or more qualifying individuals.

It would also provide a refundable credit to child care providers to cover rent, mortgage and utility costs and a refundable credit for employers to reimburse their employees’ child and dependent care costs.

Moreover, the legislation would enable employers to permit employees to carry over their dependent care flexible spending account contributions to next year. And it would expand the employee retention tax credit to help employers of domestic workers retain those employees.

The provisions in our bill are not just good for families — they are critical to sustaining an equitable economic recovery.

Until Congress acts, the economic crisis will persist, and families and businesses will suffer. As schools navigate reopening while operating remotely, the learning opportunities and healthy development young children access in quality child care settings is made all the more crucial.

While congressional Republicans are urging a wait-and-see approach to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse, we hear directly from families and providers who are struggling under the weight of the pandemic and can’t survive without additional relief from the federal government.

As the chairs of the House Committees on Appropriations and Ways and Means, we are committed to delivering meaningful relief to American workers and families during this time of widespread need and uncertainty.

The Child Care for Economic Recovery Act is a necessity for child care providers struggling financially from coronavirus, for families who need to return to work while ensuring their children are well-cared for, and for the US economy, which depends on a fully engaged workforce and strong investments in our future through quality early childhood education.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales up 1.4% in July at $71B

Published

2 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales rose 1.4 per cent to $71 billion in July, helped by higher sales in the petroleum and coal and chemical product subsectors.

The increase followed a 1.7 per cent decrease in June.

The agency says sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector gained 6.7 per cent to total $8.6 billion in July as most refineries sold more, helped by higher prices and demand.

Chemical product sales rose 5.3 per cent to $5.6 billion in July, boosted by increased sales of pharmaceutical and medicine products.

Sales of wood products fell 4.8 per cent for the month to $2.9 billion, the lowest level since May 2023.

In constant dollar terms, overall manufacturing sales rose 0.9 per cent in July.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Economy

S&P/TSX gains almost 100 points, U.S. markets also higher ahead of rate decision

Published

3 days ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.

“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.

While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.

Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.

But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.

Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.

“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.

“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.

A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.

It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.

More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.

“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.

In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.

“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX composite gains almost 100 points, U.S. stock markets also higher

Published

3 days ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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