The business case for supporting Arkansas moms

Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate the women who raise us and hold families together. At Arkansans for Improving Health (AIM), we’ve spent the past year speaking to parents, business leaders, and policymakers across the state and asking a simple question: is Arkansas making it easier or harder for women to stay in the workforce?

Right now, the answer is harder. And our economy is paying for it.

The weeks and months around childbirth are one of the most defining periods of a family’s life. They are also one of the most consequential for our state’s workforce. Nearly three out of four Arkansas workers lack access to paid family leave. Two-thirds of our counties lack affordable or accessible childcare. Infant care averages nearly $9,000 a year, roughly the same as in-state college tuition. 

These are workforce data points, not social statistics, and they point to a structural challenge costing Arkansas businesses real money. The latest research, including AIM’s white paper Strengthening Arkansas: Maternal Health as Economic Infrastructure, puts a number on it. Maternal and infant health challenges cost Arkansas an estimated $1.8 billion annually, and childcare-related disruptions cost employers another $665 million a year in turnover, lost productivity, and recruitment. 

When we frame maternal health as a women’s issue, we miss the point and the price tag.

This is an economic infrastructure problem, but Arkansas employers are already proving there’s a better way. Act 904 expanded maternity leave for public and charter school employees. The City of Little Rock extended up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave to eligible employees.  Arkansas Children’s Hospital offers onsite childcare, and Washington Regional Medical Center provides childcare reimbursement as an employee benefit. 

These aren’t outliers, they’re models. 

Employers know that losing a trained employee costs between 50 to 200 percent of that employee’s annual salary to replace. Pro-family policy is not a perk, it’s protection of investment. And over 90% of Arkansans across party lines support policymakers taking action to address these issues. 

Arkansas prides itself on being the Natural State. We should also make it a natural place to raise a family and build a career at the same time.

This Mother’s Day, celebrate the moms in your life. Then ask what your business, your community, and your elected officials are doing to make sure the next generation of Arkansas moms doesn’t have to choose between their paycheck and their newborn. When working families are supported, businesses grow, and Arkansas wins.

Editor’s note: Ashley Bearden Campbell is the executive director of Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health. The opinions expressed are those of the author.