A recent article in USNI News highlighted a significant factor to absenteeism for defense industry firms are school closings as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Folks have to decide how they’re going to take care of their kids, and all of the usual mechanisms for people to take care of their kids are not available either. So that’s our biggest driver in attendance,” said Mike Petters, chief executive of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Petters reports that less than 75 percent of his workforce are unable to regularly clock in as a result of the crisis.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis warned that school closings would have a severe impact on productivity in April, “Coronavirus-related school closures are expected to last for the remainder of the school year in many states. Thus, it is likely many full-time workers will drop out of the labor force to take care of their children.”

Photo by Tommie Horton, Air Force