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Now more than ever before, there is tremendous (and still mounting) evidence of the significant long-term benefits derived from high quality early care and education of young children.  Additionally, early care & education is now being viewed by economists and business leaders across the country in terms of its vital role in economic development.

“Future human capital is increasingly understood to depend on what is invested in children very early in life.  Human capital is well known to be crucial to strong economic growth.  We are quite sure that future economic growth depends on the investments we make now…”  James Heckman. Ph.D. and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, 2000

“Early children development programs are rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives, and … that is a mistake” – Arthur J. Rolnick, Senior Vice President an Director of research, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.  “In the future, any proposed economic development … should have early childhood education at the top.  The return on investment from early childhood development is extraordinary, resulting in better working public schools, more educated workers and less crime.  Now is the time to capitalize on this knowledge.” 

Several prominent economists, including Rob Grunewald and his colleague Art Rolnick, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Nobel Prize winner and University of Chicago Professor James Heckman have evaluated the public return on investment and concluded that, viewed as an economic development strategy, the return on investment to the public of early childhood development programs “far exceeds the return on most projects that are currently funded as economic development” such as building sports stadiums or relocating businesses.

Not only is investment in early childhood development a good yield on investment in the future, it plays a vital role in the economy today.  Companies looking for potential sites for their new business/plant locations not only look at the prospective workforce in the area, but also the quality of child care available for their employees.

Consider that young workers will make up a significant portion of labor force growth by 2030, thus highlighting a continuing need for affordable and accessible child care.  Additionally, a strong economic infrastructure, which includes a quality child care system, creates the sustainable communities that attract young professionals to the state.

South Carolina   Faces Significant Challenges

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        • SC’s traditional strategy has been to compete as an efficient, low cost location using tax breaks and incentives, abundant labor and good physical infrastructure. 

        • SC must now begin to compete by enabling firms to create higher value which will raise prosperity through improving quality of the business environment – requiring higher skills, better technology. 

§      • Yet, according to the Monitor Competitive-ness Survey – Disadvantages of SC Business Environment include both a limited supply of highly skilled workers AND a relatively weak K-12 and higher educational systems…

         • SC faces significant challenges and increased competion, both globally and from neighboring states (see below)

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Competition is Significant:

It is highly productive skilled workers that will attract companies to a region, allow existing companies to grow, and lead to job creation in that region.  Nations or regions compete in offering the most productive environment for business.

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