This is hugely due to (mostly) women leaving the workforce to take over childcare due to closed schools.

Then that sounds like a shortage to me. Raising wages isn't going to make the kids disappear.

Raising wages will make daycare a financially reasonable decision again.

Wouldn't the wages for daycare workers need to be raised as well?

So I just looked it up. Unless you make $4.75 an hour or less, you're coming out ahead working and putting your child in daycare. I'm in a ~1 million population US city.

$4.75 is half the state minimum wage, and a fraction of what anywhere near me is starting people out at. No one pays minimum wage any more. Target is paying $15/hr to stock shelves.

How does this work out? Most daycares have a legally required low ratio of staff-to-babies (like 3:1 or so). So just on wages alone you need 1/3 the minimum wage per baby. Add in all the overhead and the fact that maybe you don't want your daycare staff making the absolute minimum wage to watch your children..