When workers can't find adequate child care, they often leave the workforce. This can lead to staff shortages in other workplaces.

"It has a broader impact than most people realize," said Leah Spangler, CEO at The Learning Lamp & Ignite Education Solutions. "Individuals will leave the workforce — nurses, teachers, people key to manufacturing facilities. When you don't have reliable childcare, you can't go to work."

Daycare opens:Niessner's Smart Start Daycare gets ready to open at full capacity

And Spangler said the main reason that more don't go into the childcare profession is because they can make more money at Sheetz or McDonald's.

"The issue is the fact that child care does not pay well as a job," she said. "Child care is built on a broken economic model."

She said directors are always thinking of ways to pay workers more without passing that cost onto the parents. If child care becomes too expensive, then it doesn't make sense for some to go to work.

Learning Lamp offers free tuition for childcare workers to get their bachelor's or associates degree. Spangler said some save hundreds of thousands in tuition.

More:Access to child care becomes a barrier to employment, business growth in Somerset County

"I think investing in our youngest citizens is the way to go," she said. "The human brain develops 90% between birth and age 5."

Little Dreamers Daycare & Preschool owner Tiffany Klaus said pay is the issue. Klaus also brought up that the payrate of McDonald's is more than working in child care. Little Dreamers is located at the Georgian Place in Somerset, but is set to move to centers along East Church Street and South Center Avenue this fall.

"I know that the childcare industry has definitely been hit hard right now," she wrote in an email. "We are not able to pay employees what they deserve, even though they have such an important job, caring for people's most valued treasure."

She added, however, that she is "beyond blessed" and that her daycare center has not been affected.

Another daycare opens:Successful Beginnings opens in Meyersdale

"I have an amazing group of core staff that I have been able to rely on through (COVID-19) and since," she wrote. "I may have one or two positions that I have to hire for, but with the exception of a few weeks here and there, we have actually been overstaffed. I know this is contradictory to most of the other daycares in the area though."

In Meyersdale, Angie Benning recently opened a new daycare, Successful Beginnings.

Benning said she is fully staffed with three part-time and six full-time employees, but she may need more in the future.

"I feel I have a wonderful group of ladies that are going to work hard and make Successful Beginnings a success. To be honest I didn’t have a hard time finding staff who wanted a job. I actually had an overwhelming response in the beginning," she said.

"I don’t offer any benefits/compensation that I pay for the employees. I am offering some initial benefits that the employees pay for themselves if they want them.

"I feel that people may return to work if they could find childcare services. Child care is a service that is needed in our area and lots of other places as well. My roster quickly filled up when the community heard there was a new day care in town."

Somerset County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ron Aldom said that a worker shortage at day cares leads to a worker shortage in most industries.

"It's absolutely an issue," he said. "During COVID, I think four daycare centers (in Somerset County) closed because of the shutdowns."

Some local businesses have explored adding day cares into their own buildings, according to Aldom.

"It's like every other employment issue. There's just a lack of people to fill those roles," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset PA daycares face labor shortages