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BY CASEY BERKOVITZ, AMANDA NOVELLO and OLIVIA CHAN | The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the inadequacy of the systems that underlie nearly every aspect of U.S. society. The need for greater investment in the people and places that keep us healthy and connected has never been clearer. These systems—our schools, hospitals, child and elder care providers, community centers, and other parts of the “care economy”—are as much critical infrastructure as our roads and bridges.
As the Biden–Harris administration and Congress look to “build back better” and invest in our nation’s critical infrastructure, it must make a sustained, meaningful investment in care infrastructure: to support racial and gender equity, to build resilience, and to grow the economy as a whole.
It is well understood that investment in infrastructure projects has enormous job growth potential, and that infrastructure is foundational to a functioning economy. Although less traditionally viewed as infrastructure, care work is, likewise, the basis on which all other work can take place. As those who have trouble accessing it know, family care is necessary for all other work to be possible. (To read the full article, click here.)
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