Carolinas Treating Childcare as Workforce Strategy
Key points:
- • Economic developers in North Carolina and South Carolina now treat childcare access as core workforce infrastructure, not a side issue.
- • Community colleges, counties, and chambers are building direct interventions to keep parents in the labor force.
- • Leaders say the gap disproportionately affects adult learners and mid-career workers, threatening ambitious talent-pipeline goals.
September 2026 — Childcare has moved from a household logistics problem to a boardroom concern across North and South Carolina. Economic developers, county officials, and chamber executives say the sector now determines whether companies in the Carolinas can hire and retain employees at all.
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A talent pipeline problem
The shift in how officials frame workforce development is deliberate. Lee Lilley, secretary of commerce for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, said communities statewide are converging on the same set of tasks. “Across the state, communities consistently tell us they need stronger access to healthcare, childcare, and housing, all of which support long-term economic growth,” Lilley said in an interview with Invest: Raleigh-Durham.
National data underscore why local leaders are treating childcare as urgent. A February 2026 ReadyNation report found that childcare breakdowns for families with children under 5 cost the U.S. economy $172 billion a year in lost earnings and productivity. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has put a state-level figure on that burden for South Carolina specifically, estimating childcare gaps cost the state nearly $1 billion annually in lost economic potential — a number that lands squarely on the counties and chambers now building their own fixes.
Wake County, in South Carolina, has responded to the issue with direct investment in early education. David Ellis, the county’s manager, told Invest: Raleigh-Durham the county funds school access for eligible 3-year-olds and subsidizes pre-K seats for the same reason: employers want proof that a market can supply talent for the long term. “That full education continuum is attractive to companies because they know they will find talent here, and the employees they bring here will have strong education options for their children,” Ellis said.
Community colleges are addressing the barrier more directly. Jim Morton, president of Cape Fear Community College, said the college started a free drop-in childcare center so students do not have to choose between class and their children. “We started a free drop-in childcare center where students can leave their children while they attend class. We provide other support through scholarships and wraparound services,” Morton said in an interview with Invest: Raleigh-Durham.
Morton added that the calculus for employers has broadened well beyond headcount. “Workforce isn’t just about finding employees anymore. It’s also about housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, and infrastructure. Those issues all affect a company’s ability to attract and retain employees,” he said.
Closing the gap
South Carolina officials describe a similar dynamic. Saundra Price, Executive Director of the Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce, highlighted in an interview with Invest: South Carolina that the chamber’s role has expanded from pure networking to convening solutions across sectors. “We are a convener, putting people together for topics of conversation. Networking is still important, but today’s Chamber is also focused on advocacy, workforce development, leadership, and bringing the right people together to solve regional challenges,” Price said. “That could be workforce development, childcare availability, affordable healthcare, or other topics. Being a convener of those conversations is highly important.”
In Charleston County, the strategy starts before a child reaches kindergarten. Merle Johnson, Executive Director of Charleston County Economic Development, said the county is working with the Charleston County School District to expand pre-K access specifically to remove childcare as a barrier to employment.
“We are also looking at workforce development from a broader perspective. KK Sherrill is working with Charleston County School District as it expands access to pre-K programs. The goal is to help address childcare challenges that may be keeping some individuals out of the workforce,” Johnson explained in an interview with Invest: South Carolina. “We look at it holistically, from basically birth to career. Workforce development is not just about training workers; it is about understanding the factors that allow people to participate in the workforce in the first place.”
The stakes extend to adult learners already in the workforce. Cecilia Holden, president and CEO of myFutureNC, said in her interview with Invest: Raleigh-Durham that meeting North Carolina’s goal of 2 million residents with a postsecondary credential by 2030 depends on adults who are juggling jobs and families going back to school. “To meet the 2 million by 2030 goal and employers’ needs, more adult learners must enter the pipeline,” Holden said. “It is more challenging for adults who often have responsibilities such as childcare, adult care, or jobs that make returning to school even harder,” she added, noting that childcare access is now treated as a workforce-development metric rather than a personal circumstance.
The key question is how quickly counties and community colleges can scale childcare interventions beyond pilot programs. The markets that turn drop-in centers and subsidized pre-K into standard infrastructure, rather than one-off benefits, will hold a recruiting advantage as competition for workers intensifies through 2027.
Want more? Read the Invest: Raleigh-Durham and Invest: South Carolina reports.
