New Survey: Small businesses support bold investments in child care and paid leave that would provide a boost to working parents

Washington, D.C.―As the U.S. Senate appears poised to pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan to provide investments in our roads, bridges and broadband, the status of a more expansive “human infrastructure” package appears less certain. The latest survey from Small Business Majority finds that small businesses need additional support on their road to recovery, and they strongly favor critical provisions in the human infrastructure package, specifically investments in child care, paid family and medical leave, that would provide a boost to working parents. 

Small Business Majority surveyed its national network to better understand the state of small business recovery, as well as business owners’ views on key issues being considered in the human infrastructure plan. Overall, respondents showed strong support for policies that would provide partial wage replacement for various family and medical situations and supported solutions that will deliver sustainable resources to entrepreneurs and their employees on their road to recovery after the pandemic. For instance, they expressed support for the following:  

• Ensuring that families earning 1.5 times their state median income pay no more than 7% of their income on child care for all children under the age of 5 (63% support) 
• Increasing tax credits to support families with child care needs by making the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit expansion permanent (68% support) 
• Investing in parental leave (67% support) 

Small businesses understand the importance of supporting and retaining their employees; however, lack of access to essential benefits like affordable child care and paid family and medical leave makes that challenging. Thus, it is not surprising that most respondents support a bill designed to provide relief to working families by helping them cover basic expenses. 

"As a business owner, an employer, and a grandmother, I see daily how a lack of quality and affordable child care is holding back our economy," said Leslie Allison-See, owner of Robust Promotions LLC in Villa Park, Ill. "This has become an acute issue during the pandemic as child care centers and schools have shut down, and parents have been forced to leave the workforce―a challenge that has impacted my own family and millions of others. That's why we desperately need Congress to make bold investments in child care and other critical benefits like paid family leave and healthcare. When entrepreneurs and employees alike have the resources they need to thrive in the workplace fully, our economic recovery will flourish."  

“A successful road to recovery after the pandemic for small businesses will require robust investments in both our physical and human infrastructure,” said John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO of Small Business Majority. “To support a sustainable business ecosystem that promotes job creation, financial security, and employee retention, we must invest in solutions that will supply small businesses with the resources they need to compete with larger corporations. The bipartisan infrastructure plan is essential to creating a path for small businesses to grow and thrive, but we also need an infrastructure plan that will invest in people. The human infrastructure plan includes critical resources, such as paid family and medical leave, and child care, that will help hard-hit small businesses with their ongoing recovery. We have the solutions on the table; we just need the political will to act.”

The survey reflects the opinions of 548 small business owners from Small Business Majority’s network between June 18 through July 12, 2021. Approximately 78% of respondents are self-employed or owners of businesses with 10 or fewer employees. The sample also consists of a large portion of women-owned businesses (62%) and minority-owned businesses (52%). For the full report, visit: https://smallbusinessmajority.org/sites/default/files/research-reports/July-2021-Small-Business-Survey.pdf