Mississippi had the nation’s worst state economy based on 2023 data, according to CNBC. Factors CNBC considered included economic growth (0.7% for Mississippi), job growth (0.1%), debt rating and outlook (Moody’s Aa2, stable), major corporations headquartered in state (none), and foreign direct investment (.003% of GDP).

“The Magnolia State’s economy is hardly thriving,” CNBC reported. “Growth was among the slowest in the nation last year. Job growth was weak, too. Underlying it all: the lowest labor force participation rate in the nation, by far, at a seasonally adjusted 53.8%.”

Ah, there it is again, Mississippi’s lousy labor force participation rate.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann sees improving labor force participation as a top priority. He appointed a special Senate study group led by State Sen. Daniel Sparks to develop a state response.

On September 11th, the Mississippi Early Learning Alliance released a report entitled “Child Care: A Critical Piece of Mississippi’s Labor Force Puzzle.”

“While there are many possible avenues to addressing Mississippi’s labor force participation rate challenges, one lever that has not been fully explored is the role that childcare access and affordability has on parents’ labor force participation.”

The report provided significant data to support its contentions, including the following: “In 2023, Mississippi had close to 90,000 parents reporting that they were not working or were working part time due to family responsibilities. These parents amount to an estimated 7% of the Mississippi labor force.”

Days later, Empower Mississippi taped a podcast with Lt. Gov. Hosemann that focused on labor force participation. Hosemann said his goal would be to raise Mississippi’s rate by seven points to the national average of 61%.

His thoughts to do that included getting more youth interested in work by reducing absenteeism, more career counseling in schools, better access to career technical courses, and engaging them in summer and after school jobs. He also thought free community college tuition and better post-incarceration pathways into the workforce would help.

Missing from the dialogue with Empower Mississippi CEO Grant Callan was any mention of childcare availability.

In August, Empower had released its own report. The apparent intent of “An Interim Report on Labor Force Participation in Mississippi” was to provide an overview and data to inform the problem but not to offer solutions. The report’s data focused on the key demographics of age, sex, race and educational attainment. Availability of childcare only appeared within a side note saying several other factors should be taken into account.

The MELA report suggests it should become more than a side note. Improving the availability and affordability of childcare could help the Lt. Governor find his seven points.

Crawford is the author of “A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.”