News

For release: 8:30 a.m. CT, Feb. 26, 2025. Media contacts: ReadyNation Illinois Co-Directors Sean Noble (cell: 312-502-5566, snoble@readynation.org) & Sally Puleo (cell 630-677-8673, spuleo@readynation.org)

Poll: Illinois business leaders call for increasing public investments in child care & early education

Employers & managers note ongoing child care struggles, hiring challenges; stress critical role of early childhood services in a stable, productive economy 

Feb. 26, 2025 – Early childhood programs such as child care and preschool are essential to maintaining a stable, productive workforce today as well as shaping a skilled workforce for the future, Illinois business leaders firmly agree in a new statewide survey.

As policymakers determine state and federal budget priorities, respondents to the poll of 400 executives want to bolster early childhood services to better tackle the challenges facing them and their employees:

• 91.5% of business leaders expressed their support for “greater public investments in high-quality child care and early childhood education,” with more than half of respondents “strongly” agreeing. 
• 93.1% concurred that Illinois’ ongoing, multiyear approach to strengthening birth-to-5 services — based on the recommendations of a bipartisan commission — “will positively impact the workforce.”

“Employers and managers increasingly connect these important dots and want policymakers to do the same,” said Carol Stream manufacturing executive Lisa Savegnago. “Parents cannot work without reliable, affordable care for their kids, and early childhood programs help to seed the skills-building that’s necessary for young children to succeed in school — and then in careers.”

Savegnago — Advisor to and the former President of Nameplate & Panel Technology — is a member of the nonprofit, nonpartisan ReadyNation Illinois network of 270 business leaders. Their aim: To strengthen the state’s workforce and economy via research-proven investments in kids’ learning and development. ReadyNation does not provide any children’s services, itself, but champions key public-policy priorities that provide a backdrop of support for school- and community-based programs statewide.

ReadyNation Illinois commissioned the statewide survey of business leaders, which was conducted by the national polling firm Zogby Analytics, of New Hartford, NY. The online poll took place over the four weeks ending Jan. 9, 2025, and carries a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percentage points. It focused on the opinions of executives from businesses of 100+ employees and annual revenues of at least $10 million.

Like ReadyNation’s own membership base, the poll’s respondents came from sectors as varied as finance, manufacturing, retail, and information technology. They occupy executive positions ranging from operations directors to human resource officers and senior vice presidents. 

Among other findings, more than four out of five business leaders reported seeing their employees struggle with finding and retaining child care. Respondents further related the costly fallout they’ve seen from such problems, including employees’ resulting loss of work hours (66.4%), wages (58.3%) and jobs (37.3%) as well as overall reductions in business productivity (66.8%) and employers’ costly need to hire new workers because of displacements (63.3%).

Not surprisingly, 88.5% of surveyed business leaders agreed that high-quality child care and early education programs are important for helping working parents find and retain jobs today. Yet 86% also considered such services’ significance to shaping the future economy, agreeing that these programs help lay “an early skills foundation for young children’s success” —  another priority that emerged in the poll.

About 80% of respondents related difficulties in hiring workers with strong skills, and nearly 95% reported their businesses spending more to recruit skilled candidates than in previous years (19% noting “significant” additional spending). Echoing the findings of brain-development research, over three-quarters of executives concurred that it’s more difficult to develop critical skills in adulthood than to begin during early childhood.

“Conversations about workforce and economic development are simply incomplete if they fail to include the vital role of early childhood development,” said ReadyNation member Mike Murphy, President & CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and a former Republican state legislator. 

“About 89% of surveyed execs agreed that high-quality early childhood programs make local communities desirable for businesses and employees, alike,” added Felicia Slaton-Young, Executive Director of the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. “The well-being of all these important priorities is linked, and our public investments and policies should reflect that.”

ReadyNation Illinois members have long called for protecting and growing public investments in high-quality preschool, child care, and key infant/toddler services, and the poll results reflect similar sentiment among the state’s broader business community. Among survey respondents: 

• 97.1% agreed that investing to improve the quality and stability of early childhood teachers and support staff would benefit Illinois’ economic development.
•  85.8% reported confidence that programs’ access and quality will improve from work being done to consolidate birth-to-5 services under a single new state agency; historically, administration of these programs has been spread across three departments, creating challenges for parents and providers.
  

Establishment of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood was approved last year through a solidly bipartisan vote of the General Assembly, and the new agency is undergoing a two-year planning process. Its creation reflects a recommendation from the Early Childhood Funding Commission that met from 2019-21. The commission also called for significantly growing state, federal, and local investments in Illinois’ system of birth-to-5 services over the course of several years — work on which the state has embarked via the Governor’s Smart Start initiative.

To that end, ReadyNation Illinois members applaud the Governor’s recent FY26 proposal for growing state investments in child care assistance for working families. The group further encourages policymakers to continue building on recent improvements in state resources for preschool, Early Intervention therapies for infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities or delays, and home-visiting programs that provide “coaching” assistance for new and expectant parents.

At the federal level, ReadyNation asks policymakers to preserve and strengthen Head Start and other early childhood programs that benefit young children, parents, and our entire economy.

#          #         #

Also available: An overview of ReadyNation Illinois’ poll findings, and a longer analysis of the survey results.