It feels like there’s so much to “keep an eye on” these days, and loath as I am to add to the list, the conversation around the #care economy seems like a deeply essential addition.
In ImpactAlpha, the teams from Tesser Capital Management and Women of the World Endowment remind us that the need for caregiving is significant. 10,000 people in the U.S. are turning 65 daily. Childcare costs over $11,000 per year and climbing. And though “care” is a task that so many Americans must take on (whether it’s children, parents, neighbors or friends - and often at the same time), it’s still mostly ignored by mainstream investors.
The #socialimpact here is numbingly obvious, but we don’t talk enough about the financial upside in investing in care.
Take this corporate example: A 2024 analysis from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (in collaboration with Moms First and Emily Oster) conducted a study analyzing employer-sponsored childcare benefits in five US companies. The result? Better employee retention, reduced absences, fewer distractions or diminishment of capacity because of emergencies and much more. The study even suggested that only 12% of employees need to be retained to cover the cost of providing childcare benefits (and in some companies that was as low as 1%).
Investors might want to think about joining the fray. Integrating questions and considerations about whether the companies you invest in (across asset classes) integrate care as an employee benefit, or make care provisions for its stakeholders, could be a helpful barometer for how resilient and long-lasting the companies you invest in might be. #ImpactInvesting #ESG
Dig in: https://lnkd.in/g3YY3qSb
