COLUMBIA, S.C. — A lack of affordable and accessible childcare is a leading cause for many young parents to leave the workforce.

A recent report found childcare for the average American family costs more than the average rent in all 50 states — if parents can find it at all.

In light of these challenges, South Carolina is considering a potential plan to offer on-site childcare services to some state workers, which the Department of Social Services said, to its knowledge, would be a first for state government.

“I think it’s important we recognize just how important childcare and access to childcare is, especially for state employees, and I should add, affordable childcare,” Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D – Orangeburg, said.

This idea is part of a future move of a handful of state agencies’ headquarters out of Columbia to a new, joint campus in Cayce.

Cobb-Hunter proposed that, as part of that move, the state should consider offering on-site childcare services to the employees working there, an idea now being explored.

“Childcare is a barrier to the workforce, and we do know more than 15% of unemployed women can’t work because of a lack of childcare,” Bett Williams with Children’s Trust of South Carolina said.

The South Carolina Department of Administration said it has identified an area on the new campus where a childcare center could be located, and it is in the process of surveying how much interest there would be for this service among employees.

Studies have found access to childcare can increase worker productivity — in this case, for positions that keep the state operating.

“It helps keep government running,” Cobb-Hunter said.

“It’s not just a family problem,” Williams added. “This is a problem for communities, this is a problem for businesses, and the greater opportunities and the greater access that we could have for childcare, everyone in South Carolina will benefit.”

Cobb-Hunter said she also believes this could make the thousands of currently unfilled state jobs more attractive to potential employees, which could then spur similar investments in the private sector as those companies compete for those same workers.

“And we would be saying to the private sector, ‘Look at the leadership state government is providing. Why don’t you join us in this endeavor?’” Cobb-Hunter said.

She added questions about how much, if anything, these services would cost and which state employees would be eligible to participate would be figured out later, if this idea does come to fruition.

The Joint Bond Review Committee, a powerful state legislative panel, took an important step Tuesday to allow the Department of Administration to keep exploring not only this idea but also the much larger project of moving the state health agencies to this new campus and potentially finding new homes for other departments.

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