Illinois Childcare Workers Experienced Employment Interruptions During Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the childcare workforce? This brief analyzes Illinois employment data through 2020 to gain insights on the impact of the global pandemic on childcare workers, who historically have received low wages and experienced high burnout rates. The brief noted that the lowest paid-workers were most likely to experience employment disruptions in 2020, and 42% of workers in the pandemic cohort received unemployment insurance in 2020, compared to less than 3% of the pre-pandemic cohort.