Big news: if companies want a piece of the $39 BILLION in federal subsidies for semiconductor manufacturers they will now need to prove they provide child care support to their employees. Yes, you read that right.
Last year, a bipartisan group passed the CHIPS Act in an effort to boost US semiconductor manufacturing. Companies can receive money from the government to build new plants in the United States. However, because of labor shortages due in large part to lack of childcare, the Commerce Department announced that any manufacturing company who wants to qualify for these subsidies must help their employees with childcare.
There will be many ways for companies to qualify for “helping with childcare” which range from building an onsite facility to money for employees to helping create more childcare options locally. There are great models for this in other industries like the military. The military provides both onsite facilities and fee assistance programs for families to access childcare.
Why is this such a big deal?
The childcare requirement in the CHIPS Act is recognition at the federal level that parents cannot work without childcare. If we want to solve the labor crisis in certain industries and bolster those industries, in this case, semiconductor manufacturing, childcare is a must. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. manufacturing workers currently are women. Including childcare in the CHIPS Act is also an attempt to change that ratio by recognizing that to get women into the workforce, we must provide better childcare infrastructure.
Meeting the CHIPS Act requirement
As a leader in the childcare industry, Winnie aims to make it easier for parents to find the childcare they need. We also want to make it really easy for manufacturing companies to support their employees with childcare. Winnie is offering a service for companies that receive or want to receive CHIPS Act subsidies to help their employees with childcare. If you’re an employer that needs help with this, please reach out at employers@winnie.com.
