In-person K-12 learning is essential to a well functioning economy

What to do about schools has dominated COVID-19 policy. Yet despite all the talk about the need to close schools, one important point has received little attention — how central in-person K-12 learning is to our economy.

According to a recent NBER paper, outside of the fraction of GDP produced by K-12 schooling, education has other important roles to play. Specifically, in-person K-12 schooling,

frees up daytime hours during the work week of parents with school-aged children, allowing them to supply labour to economic activity and earn income. Without in-person K-12 schooling, it would be hard to imagine the modern work environment functioning as it does.

Consequently,

eliminating in-person schooling reduces the amount of labor time parents of school-aged children have available to work, and therefore reduces income to those workers and the economy as a whole

This can be seen in how school closures affected parents during the pandemic.

After schools closed, parents took time off from work or worked from home. This, for most parents, meant fewer hours available for work, reduced productivity, or both.

School closures and job losses

School closures, coupled with a lack of childcare, have, in fact, been one of the biggest drivers of parents leaving the workforce.

In an interview with NPR, Cecilia Rouse, Joe Biden’s pick to head the Council of Economic Advisors, emphasized how crucial reopening schools is to working women, a point that we at the Center have stressed:

Well, I think one of the most important ways that we get women back into the labor market is to get our schools reopened. I think it’s been underappreciated the role that schools have played in taking care of our children and allowing women to leave the household and to participate in the labor force outside of the home. And so I think the first job, again, coming back to the pandemic is to reopen our schools safely so that our kids can be back in school and so that women can once again participate in the labor market.

It should be concerning that Minnesota’s plan for reopening schools remains fragmented and unhelpful.